Céline Roustan

A story inspired by real-life tragedies, Marie Mc Court’s 23-minute short I was still there when you left me, follows seven-year-old Lila as she grapples with the guilt she’s experiencing after believing a fire in her tower block is her fault. As the blaze rages, we follow events from her fragile perspective, intensifying the emotive nature of the short and prompting us to consider the heartbreaking context of the on-screen events.

“I see this tower as a shameful symbol of how the system fails to protect a part of its population”

When Mc Court started writing the script for I was still there when you left me, it initially looked very different. A few months into the process, the collapse of a building in Marseille made her change the direction of her narrative, as she was reminded of the Grenfell tower fire. “The major theme of I was still there when you left me is abandonment and I see this tower as a shameful symbol of how the system fails to protect a part of its population”, she shares with us while discussing how the film came to be.

Joël Bunganga as Karim, a fellow inhabitant of the burning tower block and rescuer of Lila

Mc Court and her co-writer Abdoulkarim Hamadi came up with an extremely clever way to reflect the role society, and the system, played in those tragedies, while still building a compelling character-driven drama. “As the system is difficult to materialize as a character, we wrote a story in which a little girl sets fire to her building, so that we could evacuate the question of her responsibility. Who’s the real culprit?” the director explains as we discuss the aims of her short.

With the question surrounding who to blame out of the picture, the viewer is drawn into Lila’s emotional turmoil, while also being confronted by the situation and its repercussions. The film remains riveting by how emotionally genuine it feels, it never tries to overdramatize or oversensationalize the already extremely tragic situation. Having those two emotional facets to the narrative is also quite captivating, as we witness young Lila slowly grasping what is happening and then having to deal with her guilt.

Visually the film is also quite impressive in how the framing heavily contributes to the tone of the film. Again, the story is filmed from Lila’s perspective, amplifying the immersive experience and submerging us in the young protagonist’s world. Initially, enjoying how comfortable she is in her surroundings and then flipping that feeling, as she becomes overwhelmed in the second part of the film.

Cinematographer Mélanie Jacques’ camera feels like it is trapped in the powerful orbit of young actor Anaé Romyns

The tight frames of cinematographer Mélanie Jacques perfectly capture the events from her seven-year-old point of view, leading us to feel a strong sense of empathy with her character. The film is also subtle in how it depicts such a horrific incident and the photography reflects that by leaving many elements off-screen and unseen. Again this works to reflect Lila’s narrow view of events, but is also incredibly powerful in encouraging its viewers to consider the implications of the real-life tragedies the film mirrors.

While the broad theme is a conversation starter, with how topical and important it is, the film also works as a coming-of-age story. As the narrative progresses, we witness Lila as she goes from innocent child, rescued by Karim, to a guilt-ridden kid trying to protect her saviour from his heroic instincts. With the camera always close to her face and dialogue that Mc Court tells us was mostly improvised, Anaé Romyns performance radiates authenticity and is vital in the short’s impact. The way she occupies the frame, serving the narrative, but also owning it with remarkable authority, it’s an incredible performance from one so young.

I was still there when you left me was selected at festivals around the world, including San Sebastian, Regard and Busan and went on to be shortlisted for a BAFTA Student Film Award, before winning a Student Academy Award. Mc Court is currently writing her feature debut, which will be centred around gentrification and again will be told from the point of view of children. She is also editing a documentary about acculturation and developing a short film set in the suburbs of Paris.