Queer director Marion Hill's first feature film, Ma Belle, My Beauty, explores polyamory in the idyllic south of France. And The Advocate has the exclusive first look at the trailer.
A New Orleans-based filmmaker, Hill previously directed the 2016 short Bird of Prey. In their bio, Hill describes their work as "devoted to narratives and visuals of queer femininity and femme power."
"Through short films, music videos, and feature films, their direction of the camera serves to authentically center the nuances of queer sensibility, sexuality, sensuality and feminine agency across cultures," the bio continues.
Ma Belle, My Beauty, which has played at the Sundance Film Festival, South by Southwest, the Seattle International Film Festival, Outfest, and NewFest, centers on a reunion of three characters who were previously in a relationship. The full synopsis reads:
"Lane, Bertie and Fred once shared a polyamorous relationship in New Orleans. Lane loved Bertie, Fred loved Bertie, they had a balance that worked... until it didn't, and Lane vanished from their lives. Two years later, Bertie and Fred have gotten married and are living at Fred's family home in the countryside of southern France.
"When Lane unexpectedly shows up in Bertie's seemingly idyllic new life, she finds her former lover much different than she remembers. Bertie is disillusioned in her jazz career, still grieving the loss of her mother, and clearly alienated in this small, white, European town. Lane attempts to recreate their old, carefree dynamic, hoping that her return might lighten Bertie's mood -- but Bertie isn't having it. It seems time hasn't healed all wounds... so Lane shifts her strategy when she meets Noa, a young artist and former soldier, quickly reigniting dormant jealousies."
The film stars Idella Johnson as Bertie, Hannah Pepper as Lane, Lucien Guignard as Fred, and Sivan Noam Shimon as Noa.
Watch the exclusive trailer below. Ma Belle, My Beauty hits theaters August 20.
