LOVE ACCORDING TO DALVA
BELGIUM
Director: Emmanuelle Nicot
Cast: Zelda Sampson, Alexis Manenti, Fanta Guirassy
Genre: Drama
87 minutes: French with English subtitles, 2022
Dalva, 12, lives alone with her father. One evening, the police storm into their home and take her into foster care. As Dalva befriends her new roommate Samia and social worker Jayden, she gradually comes to understand that the love she shared with her father was not what she thought. With their help, Dalva will learn to become a child again.
Keeping all the offensive exploitation offscreen in the backstory, Emmanuelle Nicot’s poignant debut feature explores the ramifications of abuse with deep sensibility and uncompromising grace, in Dalva’s journey to recovery, reconstruction and hope.
After winning 2 prizes in Cannes, Love According To Dalva swept up no less than 7 awards at Belgium’s national Magritte Awards in 2024, including Best Film and Best Director. Showcasing an extraordinary performance by the non-professional actor Zelda Sampson as Dalva.
Dalva is the best drama I have seen in years, hands down. It tells respectfully and clearly about a difficult subject, and all pitfalls are avoided. No easy lynchmobbing, no unpalatable sensationalism.
Ard Vijn, ScreenAnarchy
An achingly beautiful portrait of friendship, recovery and identity through a young girl’s childhood sexual abuse story.
Alexandria Slater, Little White Lies
By remaining solely within Dalva’s (Zelda Samson) perspective, Nicot abruptly flips the script on the conventional abuse narrative, stubbornly yanking the character out of victim mode and giving her autonomy.
Jude Dry, indieWire
Magnified by the bubbling energy, first rebellious then increasingly luminous, of the young Zelda Samson as she portrays a thwarted child who is finally given the time to discover adolescence at her own pace.
Aurore Engelen, Cineuropa
This deserved award-winner at Cannes last year manages the tricky feat of mining difficult and potentially lurid material without a single exploitative beat.
Kevin Maher, Times UK
