Revoir Paris

Some memories are too painful for us to carry day to day. There are compartments in our minds where we store our heaviest memories to protect ourselves from despair. This is especially true for traumatic events—happenings so large there’s no control over our reactions. Some people can move on without remembering, but for others, the answers are a necessity to living. They give people the insight they need to know themselves better to heal wounds and move on emotionally.

In “Revoir Paris,” memory is a mystery to be solved. Mia (Virginie Efira) rides her motorcycle all over Paris, searching for answers about a devastating mass shooting at a local bistro. She was there, and she survived, but she can’t seem to remember how. The opening scenes show Mia going about her life, working on the radio, and spending time with her boyfriend Vincent (Grégoire Colin). But later, she’s alone, writing at the bistro. There’s a birthday being celebrated at a neighboring table. The mood is calm and pleasant. She gets ink on her hands from her fountain pen and goes to the bathroom to wash it off. But before Mia can return to her table, she hears gunfire and screaming. The scene, though brief, is appropriately terrifying—it’s not just what we see but what we don’t see. Director Alice Winocour doesn’t show us where the gunshots are coming from, instead focusing on the panic of the bistro staff and guests. The scene cuts before we can see how exactly Mia survived.