The Little Last One: Hafsia Herzi’s most beautiful film (review)

Adapted from the autobiographical book by Fatima Daas, this story of the emancipation of a young lesbian of Muslim faith reveals a stunning actress, Nadia Melliti, crowned with the acting prize at Cannes.

The Little One which marked the entry into the Cannes competition ofHafsia Herzi director extends by going up several notches what made her previous films, You deserve a love and Good mother, so special. This staging which magnifies faces, looks and bodies. His virtuosity in the art of dialogue. This same mastery in orchestrating agitated choral scenes as well as intimate moments. All in the service of his very first adaptation exercise. That of the autobiographical novel by Fatima Daas, a story of personal construction of a young Muslim woman, who loves women.

And we experience this film with Fatima, through her, her shames, her doubts, her racing heart, her fears… Hafsia Herzi shakes up all the obligatory passages – the confrontation with her mother as with an Imam – by taking them, both by their positions in the story and by what is said there, always far from what we could have anticipated.

In the same logic, everything here goes first and foremost through kisses and words (irresistible scene from his first date with an older woman who introduces him through a keen sense of description to the pleasure of the flesh between women). Not out of fear of bodies. But because here again, Hafsia Herzi places us in the head of her character and her way of experiencing these moments.

A heroine embodied by Nadia Melliti whose intensity and charisma light up the screen. In chatting as well as in listening. In the moments where her character cracks as in those where she takes the lead. More than a revelation, an emergence crowned with the Cannes interpretation prize

Of Hafsia Herzi With Nadia Melliti, Ji-Min Park, Amina Ben Mohamed…Duration 1h46. Released October 22, 2025