Invincible

Viewer Advice: Strong impact themes.

This deeply moving Clermont-Ferrand International Special Jury Prize winner follows a troubled teen’s last-ditch attempt at freedom.

After a home visit with his family, 14-year-old Marc-Antoine feels the walls of the juvenile detention facility where he lives closing in. Léokim Beaumier-Lépine delivers a remarkable performance as a clever kid who is clearly suffering – whose anguish, rage and defeat play across his face in tight close-ups. Exquisite cinematography also captures the protagonist’s small, joyful moments of release: jumping into a lake with his sister, joking with other inmates or setting off the sprinkler system when guards ignore his pleas for fresh air.

Inspired by the death of a childhood friend, director Vincent René-Lortie presents a poignant study of adolescent mental health at breaking point, depicting a boy whose desire to escape eventually outweighs the tragic costs.