Proxima (2019)

Directed by: Alice Winocour | 107 minutes | drama | Actors: Eva Green, Zélie Boulant, Matt Dillon, Aleksey Fateev, Lars Eidinger, Sandra Hüller, Trond-Erik Vassal, Nancy Tate, Grégoire Colin, Igor Filippov, Svetlana Nekhoroshikh

The head and the heart are hard to separate in ‘Proxima’, in which French astronaut Sarah Loreau (Eva Green) takes center stage as she prepares for a mission aboard the ISS to visit Mars. Sarah is divorced and, in addition to her job, takes care of her six-year-old daughter Stella. During her absence, ex-husband Thomas (Lars Eidinger) will take care of Stella. However, the bond between mother and daughter is very close, and despite Sarah’s ambitious plans, she struggles to relinquish her earthly responsibilities.

Director Alice Winocour previously co-wrote the screenplay for the incomparable ‘Mustang’, and in 2015 also delivered the ‘Maryland’, which she directed herself, with a starring role for Matthias Schoenaerts. The Frenchwoman definitely has a good nose for casting, because Eva Green is phenomenal in her portrayal of the driven Sarah. In every second of the film you can feel the battle raging in her: the boundless ambition to survive in the male stronghold that international space travel still is, versus the love and mother duty she feels for Stella.

What probably plays a role in this is the fact that Stella is not your average child. Due to problems with math and language, she is a bit behind in school and she has trouble connecting with peers. Stella, however, is by no means stupid and is well aware of what will change when her mother disappears from the face of the earth for a year. Literal. But if that is difficult for an adult to handle – after all, how exceptional is this situation, how can you expect a child to foresee all the consequences? So it’s no wonder that Stella is looking for her own solutions when Sarah is busy with the heavy training. The role of Stella is equally impressive: newcomer Zélie Boulant is heartbreakingly good as the girl who understands perfectly how much her mother wants to pursue her lifelong dream, but still has trouble with the notion that this means she has to leave her daughter. The chemistry between her and movie mom is obvious. Thrilling to see.

Although we get enough scenes in which Sarah undergoes exhaustive training for her mission, the beautifully filmed ‘Proxima’ is more family drama than science fiction. Matt Dillon still plays a small role as Sarah’s initially sexist and even racist colleague, who later turns out to have a sensitive side. Winocour has made an emotional, moving film with ‘Proxima’, which at the end turns out to be a beautiful tribute to real astronauts.