Red Rocks: Bruno Dumont’s Leap into the Poetry of Childhood

Bruno Dumont’s next film, Les Roches Rouges, will be released in cinemas on September 23, 2026. The feature film follows a group of children who discover their first romantic feelings and jealousy.

Les Roches Rouges, Bruno Dumont’s new feature film in theaters on September 23, offers a sunny work on the shores of the Mediterranean. Moving away from the science-fiction tones of l’Empire, here the filmmaker immerses himself in the raw reality of emotions.

The mineral landscapes of the red rocks of Var served as a full-scale theater during five weeks of filming. From the opening shots, the viewer is plunged into the sparse setting of Dramont. Following young Géo played by Kaylon Lancelot, barely five years old in his daily life, two rival groups of children appear.

Their daily occupation: climbing impressive cliffs, diving into the sea, stealing a few things, and touring the neighborhood on quad bikes with friends.

Around Géo is Manon aka Louise Podolski, his initial girlfriend, accompanied by Rouben played by Mohamed Coly. Then, B (Alessandro Piquera) forms another group with Géo’s future girlfriend, Ève (Kelsie Verdeilles) and Do (Meryl Pires). During this summer season, the two groups of friends will experience friendship, betrayal, group rivalries and conflicts linked to their first romantic feelings.

Staging at the heart of emotions

The film’s success rests partly on the way emotions are conveyed. Bruno Dumont’s strategic choice to make a film without music allows immersion in children’s primary emotions. The film’s soundscape is thus rhythmed by the sound of waves, silences that speak louder than words, the breath of wind and children on the rocks. This choice makes the film a quasi-documentary allowing it to stay as close as possible to the spontaneity of the young.

Added to this is the particular choice of filming almost entirely handheld. Bruno Dumont chose to follow Géo and his friends closely, showing the protagonist’s disordered movements to the camera. Being in the waves, on a road… the immersion is total and further accentuates the characters’ emotions. This somewhat recalls an amateur aesthetic, reminiscent of the beginning of his career as a director since initially, Bruno Dumont was a philosophy teacher.

The choice to exclude adults from the film, limiting their appearances to a few unfortunate scenes is even more striking. An audacious choice which, through very short sequences, perfectly recomposes the intensity of children’s first emotions.

Les Roches Rouges, territory of freedom

In its narrative structure, Les Roches Rouges is comparable to a miniature western, moreover underlined by a spectator during the premiere. The wild territory of the red rocks allows concretely revealing deep human feelings.

Far from any moral lesson or somewhat naive idealization, the work passes no judgment. Here, the feature film wants to leave room for each person’s own perceptions. The viewer can and must form their own opinion of the situation. Everyone’s memories of the freedom the film wants to show, the way they have been processed, that is what must be remembered beyond the story.

It is true that following young people in their first romantic feelings, discovering pride, joy, following the purest spontaneity since reason has not yet found its place, is not particularly entertaining. All the more so because there is no music, it brings no external stimulus other than the filmed story.

Ultimately, this work wants to lyrically depict a free and disobedient youth. Bruno Dumont‘s bet on wanting to make a film about freedom is successful in itself. Raw emotions are conveyed, captured; restoring a landscape close to a watercolor accompanied by the emotional poetry of children.