‘Homecoming’ Review: Catherine Corsini’s Feature Is a Hedonistic Coming-of-Age Tale

thewrap.com:

Cannes Film Festival in as many days, Catherine Corsini’s “Homecoming” is vastly more interesting than that other film maudit, “Jeanne du Barry,” though the pair make for worthy foils.While Maïwenn’s stuffy historical epic drew protests on the Croisette due to the extracurricular activities of its stars, Corsini’s windswept jaunt very nearly didn’t make the trip – the title was omitted from the competition when news of irresponsible on-set practices broke just before the selection was announced.

That the lack of oversight involved a minor seemed to seal the project’s fate before a subsequent investigation and the absence of any formal complaints put the title back on track.

Still, the damage was substantial. Unlike the stars of “Jeanne du Barry,” whose deeds are clear and whose supporters and critics remain galvanized on either side, the general murkiness of the charges laid against “Homecoming” cast a shadow that might be awfully hard to shake – a mark of original sin made all the more ironic given the bright, liberated and generous tenor of the final product.

Because whatever else happened on-set, Corsini has delivered a wonderful film, a beautifully calibrated coming-of-age drama that ever so elegantly flutters questions of race, class, guilt and opportunity through a seaside summer breeze.The breakout from Corsini’s 2021 Cannes entry “The Divide,” Aïssatou Diallo Sagna plays Khedidja, a mother-of-two first seen in wordless prologue fleeing the island of Corsica, young daughters in tow, with a look of unmitigated anguish painted across her face.