Property

At a time when all the French-language editorialists are joining forces to deny its existence, the class struggle is resurfacing in a whole swathe of contemporary cinema. Where directors such as Michel Franco or Ruben Östlund exorcise a panicked fear of seeing the underprivileged take over by force, Daniel Bandeira seeks to go beyond shock, to examine how violence, literal or figurative, breaks the social contract. Property bears witness to the widening gulf between individuals, both in its sharp dialogue and in the suffocating build-up of tension. The film never suggests identification or empathy, but rather questions and provokes debate, where triple-A festival regulars have only certainties.