The Cathedral (2006)

Every day, Lina wakes up in the morning, tidies up the house, brings some tea to her hard-working father and to her hypochondriac mother, and runs out as soon as she can. What is she running from? Even she doesn't know. She goes to the Saint-Louis cathedral, where she meets her friend Ram, an ice lolly seller, who shares with her his simple human wisdom; Sanjay, the shy student who loves her secretly and tries in vain to muster up the courage to tell her; and all her other friends, who feel her charm and her grace as a secret light, when she dances on the steps in front of the cathedral. Of the cathedral, she only knows the stone steps on which she sits or dances. And yet, the cathedral, who is telling us this story, waits for her every day and embraces her with its mystical presence without her being aware of it. Yet, on this particular day, the routine of Lina's days is changed. A stranger, a photographer looking for unusual images of the island, happens to see her while she is dancing, and tries to entice her with a vision of a different future. Lina's narrow, enclosed world opens up suddenly, and her habits are disrupted. Her life is changed because she is forced to make a choice. To decide whether she will accept to meet the photographer again, and take up this opportunity to leave the dust and noise of the city, the poverty of her life and a family that seems to be falling apart, or refuse to open up to this dream. Whether she accepts or refuses, her life will no longer be the same and she will no longer be free: she will have faced up to the reality of her existence. We will never know whether it is the right choice or not. But that's not the point. The point is that, in the course of this single day in Port-Louis, a carefree young girl has finally grown up.