Set Me Free

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Set Me Free

Released Feb 12, 1999

1h 34m

Drama

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Popcornmeter

83%

Tomatometer

18 Reviews

79%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

In the 1960s, Hanna (Karine Vanasse), a teen girl with a troubled home life, finds solace in films, especially those starring actress Anna Karina, who reminds her of her schoolteacher (Nancy Huston). Hanna's father (Miki Manojlovic) is an unhappy poet, her mother (Pascale Bussières) is exhausted from work and their marriage is failing. Hanna finds support in her brother (Alexandre Merineau) and in Laura (Charlotte Christeler), a girl at school to whom she is becoming increasingly attracted.

Marjorie Baumgarten

Austin Chronicle

The performances in Set Me Free are all gentle, lovely creations that are of a piece with the film's humanistic touch.

Rated: 4.5/5

Jan 1, 2000

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Lou Lumenick

New York Post

Tells its story so effectively through pictures it's barely necessary to read the subtitles.

Rated: 3/4

Jan 1, 2000

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

In some of its details, it resembles Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows.

Rated: 3/4

Jan 1, 2000

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Dennis Lim

Out Magazine

Vanasse gives a performance of unaffected grace, and Pool reveals a keen eye for the formative moments of adolescence.

May 24, 2022

Full Review

B. Ruby Rich

San Francisco Bay Guardian

Pool has reached a new level entirely as writer-director of deeply emotional yet lightly humorous storytelling. Best of all, she's taken a genre known for its softness, the coming-of-age film, and put some bite into it.

Feb 26, 2020

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Felicia Feaster

Creative Loafing

Tinctured with a feminist perspective, Set Me Free tends to see the world as a series of shiny traps set for young girls, a difficult path to adulthood made worse without a capable female role model.

Jan 29, 2020

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Audience Member

A superb addition to the Quebec canon brought to you by Lea Pool who is very successful at bringing out strong emotions from her actors. Karine Vanasse is the beneficiary of her guidance.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Lea Pool's film is a beautiful, lyrical portrayal of a young girl's growing up. A lovely meditation, Set Me Free never glosses over the difficulties of Hanna's life, but somehow manages to make everything both ire an urgent as well as just a phase of life that can't be escaped.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Si Léa Pool utilise assez bien ses capacités en offrant un film qui s'écoute sommes toutes assez bien, on regrette toutefois cet abus de poids dramatique qui va décidément trop loin au point d'enlever une bonne partie de l'effet dramatique désiré. Plusieurs interprétations et dialogues faussent également. Malgré tout, certains moments s'avèrent magnifiques.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

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Audience Member

Style Nouvelle-Vague Ã la Godard, j'adore!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

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Audience Member

I found it to be a moving little French-Canadian film. Telling a pretty common story kind of took away from it being a truely superior film.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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Léa Pool

Director

Karine Vanasse

Hanna

Alexandre Merineau

Paul, frère de Hanna

Pascale Bussières

Mère de Hanna

Miki Manojlovic

Père de Hanna

Charlotte Christeler

Laura

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Synopsis

In the 1960s, Hanna (Karine Vanasse), a teen girl with a troubled home life, finds solace in films, especially those starring actress Anna Karina, who reminds her of her schoolteacher (Nancy Huston). Hanna's father (Miki Manojlovic) is an unhappy poet, her mother (Pascale Bussières) is exhausted from work and their marriage is failing. Hanna finds support in her brother (Alexandre Merineau) and in Laura (Charlotte Christeler), a girl at school to whom she is becoming increasingly attracted.

Director: Léa Pool
Producer: Lorraine Richard, Carole Scotta, Alfi Sinniger
Screenwriter: Nancy Huston, Léa Pool, Isabelle Raynault
Distributor: Merchant-Ivory Productions [us], Artistic License
Production Co: Catpics AG, Cité-Amérique, Haut et Court
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Canadian French
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 12, 1999, Original
Box Office (Gross USA): $73.4K
Runtime: 1h 34m