Stella

Every day, Stella begs at the Oberkampf metro station, yet no-one really sees her, just as no-one sees the blind flower-seller in City Lights. Leaving everything behind, she chose to live illegally in France for love of her seriously ill husband Marcel. She was convinced she would find a doctor able to treat him. She succeeded but the backlash is overwhelming and she, in turn, falls ill. Jobless, penniless and with no legal status, she has to finish her course of medical treatment before returning to Romania. While the film renders her anguish and suffering palpable, it also shows a women who never gives up, who is determined to solve her problems one after the other with the means she has available. Within her exhausted frame, there lies an iron will. (Yann Lardeau)