The Natural Models of Lucile Hadžihalilović

Lucile Hadžihalilović’s films have the structure of allegories. Time after time they are described in terms of surrealism and symbolism, fairy tales, and the shaping of childhood; all rich frameworks for the pr...

Coming of age is often conceptualised in religious terms as a rite of passage and an initiation into adulthood, - and so Lucile Hadžihalilović's films figure themselves as ritualised mysteries, with children at...

When they named their production company Les Cinémas de la Zone, Lucile Hadžihalilović and Gaspar Noé made a statement of intent, a clear conceptual point of origin. The words are French, the company is grounde...

There is in France a sign at railway crossings: "Un train peut en cacher un autre." One train can hide another. Beyond its primary warning that travellers should exercise caution when crossing tracks because on...

Interview conducted via email from July-August 2022. How did you come to work with Lucile Hadžihalilović. It's clear how Lucile and yourself would find each other sympathetic collaborators, but how did you o...

When it comes to the work of Lucile Hadžihalilović, there is an after Innocence (2004) and a before it. Those films that come “after,” like Evolution (2015) and Earwig (2021) seem to exist in the same surreal c...

Lucile Hadžihalilović’s cinema can be understood in terms of the artistic notions of the pittura metafisica – the “metaphysical picture,” coined by painter Giorgio de Chirico in the 1910s. Taken at face value, ...

A rare and singular figure of French cinema, Lucile Hadžihalilović has developed a body of work, filled with haunting images, mysterious characters and a taste for bizarre details. Thanks to her refined art of ...

Lucile Hadžihalilović opens De Natura (2018) with a signature triptych.  First, an extreme close-up ― ten seconds on a young human’s eye, flecks of orange on its eyelashes, freckles dappling its delicate Caucas...

Lucile Hadžihalilović has declared herself a cinematic entomologist of sorts. Discussing her process in an interview following her breakout film, Innocence (2004), Hadžihalilović suggests that her filmmaking me...

This extended conversation with Lucile Hadžihalilović is grounded in the experience of life, film and filmmaking. The interview was conducted by dossier editors Alison Taylor and John Edmond over Zoom in July 2...