REGARD 2025: Ma sœur (dir. Rosalie Pelletier) | Review
With sensitivity and kindness, director Rosalie Pelletier offers an intimate portrait of her sister, now a young adult, with whom she shares a complex relationship.
After being repeatedly moved from foster homes to group residences, Alicia is now searching for stability. She is celebrating her eighteenth birthday, a milestone with particular significance for her, as she once believed she wouldn’t live to see adulthood. In Ma sœur (My Sister), Rosalie Pelletier captures this pivotal moment in Alicia’s life through her camera, reuniting with her adoptive sister after years of separation. The short documentary has just premiered at the 29th Saguenay International Short Film Festival, aka REGARD, in 2025.
The director deliberately chose a spontaneous, unpolished shooting style, often foregoing camera stabilization. In doing so, she offers a raw and unembellished reality, painting a portrait of the sisters’ complex relationship. With tenderness and restraint, Rosalie Pelletier captures these moments of life shared with Alicia, as she accompanies her in her emancipation and her move into her own home.
In the film’s final scene, Alicia whispers a piece of advice to Rosalie on how to stabilize her camera, as a metaphor for her own wish to find her place in Quebec society and for a return to some stability in their relationship. This sequence, viewed in the context of the entire work, invites us to reflect on the importance of sibling bonds in shaping adolescent identity and the ability to find emotional stability.
The 29th Saguenay International Short Film Festival, also known as REGARD, is running on March 19-23, 2025.
