A mother and son confront desire, emotional transition, and the dissolution of familiar family ties during one consequential week in southern France.
Story Structure — 5 Plot Phases
A House Awaiting Departure
Beatrice and Elliot arrive in southern France to prepare their family holiday home for sale. The property becomes the setting for their separate but connected transitions.
Key Events
Arrival in Southern France — Beatrice and Elliot arrive for a transitional week at the family holiday home. Characters: Beatrice, ElliotLocation: Southern France
Preparing the Holiday Home — Mother and son begin preparing the property for sale. Characters: Beatrice, ElliotLocation: Family holiday home
The House Must Be Sold — The planned sale establishes the family's changing circumstances. Characters: Beatrice, ElliotLocation: Family holiday home
Marriage Breakdown Surfaces — Beatrice confronts the breakdown of her loveless marriage. Characters: BeatriceLocation: Family holiday home
Elliot Feels Alienated — Elliot's growing alienation from Beatrice becomes part of the family tension. Characters: Beatrice, ElliotLocation: Family holiday home
Clément Enters Their Lives — Local teenager Clément enters the family's unsettled week. Characters: Beatrice, Elliot, ClémentLocation: Southern France
Cracks Beneath the Family
Beatrice confronts the breakdown of her loveless marriage while Elliot feels increasingly alienated from her. Family tensions and unspoken secrets begin shaping the week.
Key Events
Clément Enters Their Lives — Local teenager Clément enters the family's unsettled week. Characters: Beatrice, Elliot, ClémentLocation: Southern France
A Rebellious Local Teenager — Clément's rebellious nature distinguishes him from Elliot's family environment. Characters: Elliot, ClémentLocation: Southern France
Elliot Becomes Infatuated — Elliot develops an intense infatuation with Clément. Characters: Elliot, ClémentLocation: Southern France
Friendship Begins — Elliot and Clément's friendship begins to deepen. Characters: Elliot, ClémentLocation: Southern France
Hidden Desires Emerge — Clément's presence brings hidden desires and personal crises closer to the surface. Characters: Beatrice, Elliot, ClémentLocation: Family holiday home
Family Tensions Intensify — The family's tensions become more visible as relationships shift. Characters: Beatrice, Elliot, ClémentLocation: Family holiday home
Clément Changes the Balance
Clément, a rebellious local teenager, enters the family's life. Elliot becomes infatuated with him, and their friendship starts moving toward romance.
Key Events
Family Tensions Intensify — The family's tensions become more visible as relationships shift. Characters: Beatrice, Elliot, ClémentLocation: Family holiday home
Unspoken Secrets Surface — The week exposes unspoken secrets within the family. Characters: Beatrice, ElliotLocation: Family holiday home
Elliot's Sexual Awakening — Elliot confronts his awakening sexuality through his feelings for Clément. Characters: Elliot, ClémentLocation: Southern France
Beatrice Faces Emotional Upheaval — Beatrice continues navigating the emotional consequences of her marriage's breakdown. Characters: BeatriceLocation: Family holiday home
A Deeper Romantic Bond — Elliot and Clément's friendship develops into a deeper romantic bond. Characters: Elliot, ClémentLocation: Southern France
Desires in Collision
Elliot confronts his sexual awakening while Beatrice navigates emotional upheaval. Their stories increasingly mirror one another through Clément's disruptive presence.
Key Events
A Deeper Romantic Bond — Elliot and Clément's friendship develops into a deeper romantic bond. Characters: Elliot, ClémentLocation: Southern France
Relationships Shift — The central relationships continue changing as the week progresses. Characters: Beatrice, Elliot, ClémentLocation: Southern France
Two Crises Converge — Beatrice's emotional upheaval and Elliot's romantic awakening become intertwined. Characters: Beatrice, Elliot, ClémentLocation: Family holiday home
Desire and Adolescence — The converging stories meditate on desire, adolescence, and emotional change. Characters: Beatrice, Elliot, ClémentLocation: Southern France
The Shape of Separation
The intertwined stories become a meditation on desire, adolescence, and the dissolution of family ties. The week ends with relationships transformed by what has been confronted.
Key Events
Dissolution of Family Ties — The family's changing bonds point toward the dissolution of established ties. Characters: Beatrice, ElliotLocation: Family holiday home
The Week Comes to an End — The week concludes with transformed relationships and unresolved emotional consequences. Characters: Beatrice, Elliot, ClémentLocation: Southern France
Story Breakdown
Arrival and Sale — Beatrice and Elliot enter a temporary setting shaped by the planned sale of their holiday home.
Southern France — The mother and son arrive in southern France for a transitional week.
Preparing the Home — They prepare the family holiday home to be sold.
Beatrice's Marriage Crisis — Beatrice faces the emotional consequences of a loveless marriage and impending family separation.
Loveless Marriage — The breakdown of Beatrice's marriage forms a major part of her personal crisis.
Emotional Upheaval — Beatrice attempts to navigate changing feelings during the week.
Elliot's Awakening — Elliot moves through adolescence while confronting desire and increasing distance from his mother.
Growing Alienation — Elliot feels increasingly alienated from Beatrice.
Sexual Discovery — His feelings for Clément become part of his sexual awakening.
Clément's Arrival — The rebellious local teenager changes the emotional balance within the family's week.
Rebellious Presence — Clément is introduced as an enigmatic and rebellious local teenager.
Family Catalyst — His presence causes Beatrice and Elliot to confront hidden desires and crises.
Romantic Development — Elliot and Clément's connection develops from friendship into a deeper romantic bond.
Initial Infatuation — Elliot becomes infatuated with Clément.
Deepening Bond — Their friendship develops into a romantic relationship.
Converging Transitions — Beatrice's emotional crisis and Elliot's adolescent awakening mirror and influence each other.
Shared Tensions — Family tensions, secrets, and shifting relationships connect their separate struggles.
Dissolving Ties — The week becomes a meditation on the dissolution of established family bonds.
An English mother and her teenage son spend a week preparing the sale of their remote holiday house in the South of France. Fifteen-year-old Elliot struggles with his dawning sexuality and an increasing alienation from his mother, Beatrice. She in turn is confronted by the realisation that her marriage to his father, Philip, has grown loveless and the life she knows is coming to an end. When an enigmatic local teenager, Clément, quietly enters their lives, both mother and son are compelled to confront their desires and, finally, each other.
