The Kingdom

Set in Corsica in 1995, Julien Colonna’s feature debut, The Kingdom, blends a father-daughter drama with an intricate crime thriller to magnificent effect. The film opens with teenager Lesia (Ghjuvanna Benedetti) getting ready to spend her summer hanging out at the beach with friends, only for her to be taken to a secluded villa to spend time with her father, Pierre-Paul (Saveriu Santucci). Her arrival coincides with news reports of violent assassinations on the TV, and while they’re initially of little consequence to her, she soon discovers that her father is the leader of a crime family embroiled in a war with rival mobsters and nationalists.

Told predominantly through the eyes of the young lead, the first half of this movie works as a slow-burn mystery as she and viewers piece together what’s going on through fragments of eavesdropped conversations. The methodical escalation of events ensures that audiences stay captivated by the intrigue, with the island’s stunning vistas serving as a gorgeous backdrop to the unfolding events. The penny soon drops, and the youngster is brought into the fold, at which point Colonna’s debut hits its stride.

While at first Lesia is reluctant to spend time with her imposing figure of a father, this newfound trust brings them closer together. Not only does The Kingdom transform into a moving father-daughter drama, but the teenager’s move from naïve child to insider serves as a fascinating coming-of-age-style narrative that only enrichens the script co-written by Colonna and Jeanne Herry. Moreover, it’s at this point where Benedetti and Santucci’s performances come into their own. The pair are phenomenal together, with Santucci especially shining in a heartfelt monologue in which he lays his feelings bare to his daughter.

It takes a long time for any violence to appear onscreen. When it does, it’s sudden and brutal. And when the film reaches its shocking climax, the filmmaker creates a hard-hitting critique of violence and retribution.

There are a lot of aspects to The Kingdom, each as riveting as the last. Colonna effortlessly weaves each of these ideas together into a constantly compelling feature debut that impresses until the very end.

Andrew Murray

The Kingdom does not have a UK release date yet.

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