L'Atelier (2017)
Directed by Laurent Cantet

Film Synopsis

In the populous Mediterranean sea town of La Ciotat, Olivia Dejazet, a well-known author, runs a writers' workshop for students of mixed race and modest means.  The intention is for the group to collaborate on the writing of a crime novel which will hopefully make it into print, but this objective is threatened by the mysterious black sheep of the group, Antoine.  The latter's morbid preoccupation with extreme racism and ultra-violence both fascinates and repels the liberal-minded Olivia, who finds herself drawn into an ambiguous and possibly dangerous relationship with the overwrought and aggressively antisocial young man.

Olivia's niggling curiosity about the hard-to-pin-down Antoine gradually develops into full-blown obsession, and this is mirrored by the young man's growing interest in her.  Antoine appears distinctly unconcerned with Olivia's original motivation for the novel, which involved evoking La Ciotat's past as a major shipbuilding centre.  Instead, he has his own preoccupations, which are far grimmer and far more in tune with the concerns of the present.  Through Antoine, Olivia will have her eyes opened to the horrors and frustrations of the age in which she now lives...