September Says

Ariane Labed has until now been best known for her Volpi Cup-winning role in the Greek Weird Wave hit Attenberg, and roles in her husband, Yorgos Lanthimos’s, surreal dramedies. However, she’s now moved into directing with a quirky new film of her own, September Says. Based on the 2020 novel Sisters by Daisy Johnson, it follows two oddball siblings with a close, coven-like bond.

July (Mia Tharia) is a remarkably quiet girl living in the shadow of her unruly older sister September (Pascale Kann). The pair face bullying at school due to their race and inability to fit in, while September uses a seemingly supernatural control over her sister to make unnerving requests and create their own, closed-off world.

Their mother, Sheela (Sex Education’s Rakhee Thakrar), a stylish photographer with Indian heritage, copes with being a single mum by letting her daughters indulge themselves within their sibling bubble. Both are also, as teenagers, of an age where certain appetites begin to stir, resulting in a sexual encounter that changes the dynamic between the sisters.

In the film’s second half, set at the remote Irish family holiday home the girls and their mum stay in, a hinted-at but unrevealed trauma prompts their relationship to get even stranger. A late twist can perhaps be half-foreseen. It nonetheless works within a movie whose three female characters are excellently played by its cast, with Kann the standout as the wilder sister.

Comparisons will inevitably made with Lanthimos’s work due to them sharing some of the same offbeat sensibilities – but Labed is very much her own filmmaker. Her work is more tied to reality than her husband’s – there’s less outlandish surrealism – but there are nonetheless some scenes of real daring. One moment in which Sheela, wanting to escape from her exile from the world alongside her daughters, hooks up with a man from the pub, is particularly special. In it, we hear her internal monologue as her lover does his thing.

Sometimes September Says can feel a little slow, but its strong performances, gripping moments and important themes of sisterhood, mental health and individuality mean it’s a winner. It will now be fascinating to see what Labed does next, as with September Says having debuted in Cannes, the French Riviera could have witnessed the birth of a directorial power couple.

Mark Worgan

September Says does not have a release date yet.

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival coverage here.

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