Joël Pommerat, a master storyteller, has previously aimed to subvert the magical. In Cinderella, he turned conventional notions on their head, forcing us to confront the fears of childhood. With Les petites Filles modernes (Modern Girls), he takes the opposite tack, fully immersing us in the magical and supernatural — the only true bulwarks against the challenges his two young heroines face.

Using the mysterious powers of childhood, the girls counter reality and the adults who are set on separating them. Their unshakeable friendship becomes a weapon so potent it transcends the limits of body and mind, challenging the relationship between children and adults, who are present only as disembodied voices.

In his latest exploration of adolescence and its complexities, Pommerat introduces the concept of “novelistic theatre”, in which the story is told and lived out at the same time. In this starkly contrasted world, fears and nightmares are unleashed in shadowy, near-empty settings, lit by the glow of hypnotic videos, as we embark on a mesmerising “journey of self-discovery” that invites reflection without judgment.