Agathe Riedinger’s Wild Diamond, a fluid, eloquent feature film that premiered at Cannes, is a pungent exploration of fame, beauty, and the allure of influence. An expansion of Riedinger’s 2017 short film J’attends Jupiter, Wild Diamond is set against the sun-bleached backdrop of Fréjus, a coastal town in France’s Côte d’Azur. The film, which marks Riedinger’s debut feature, showcases her keen eye for social commentary and her critique of modern media culture.
At the center of Wild Diamond is Liane, a 19-year-old whose aspirations and self-image are profoundly shaped by her environment and the media she consumes. Portrayed by Malou Khebizi, Liane is a waitress in Fréjus, where she lives with her mother and younger sister. The film charts her relentless pursuit of fame and beauty, driven by a deep-seated belief that reality TV is her ticket to a better life. Liane’s fixation on becoming the “French Kim Kardashian” underscores her desire not just for visibility but for a form of validation that she feels is currently beyond her reach.
Riedinger’s film dives into the disturbing undercurrents of reality TV culture, which she has long examined through her work. Wild Diamond extends the exploration begun in J’attends Jupiter, presenting a broader narrative that exposes the ways in which reality television can perpetuate the hyper-sexualization of women and the normalization of violence and exploitation. Though not oblivious to this, Liane’ character remains anemic to the realization that her objectification is in control of anyone else other than herself.
Liane’s journey is both a personal quest and a social commentary. Her obsession with body modification—evidenced by her breast augmentation surgery, lip injections, and her ambition to undergo a Brazilian butt lift—serves as a visual metaphor for her quest for social ascension and acceptance. Her active engagement on Instagram, where she flaunts her alterations and collects affirmations from her followers, highlights the performative aspects of her identity. In Liane’s world, self-worth is intricately linked to appearance and public approval, and likes become metrics of success.
Riedinger’s portrayal of Liane’s story is both incisive and empathetic. The director uses the character’s relentless drive as a lens to scrutinize the broader implications of fame-driven culture. Wild Diamond doesn’t merely showcase the protagonist’s ambitions but interrogates the societal structures that fuel them. The film’s aesthetic choices—its stark portrayal of Fréjus’s dusty streets and the contrasting glitz of reality TV’s allure—are there to enhance its thematic concerns, with themes touching on social mobility and class discrimination.
As one of only four women in this year’s Cannes competitive lineup, the film’s impact was immediate, by quickly securing distribution through Pyramide. Produced by Priscilla Bertin of Silex Films, the film is currently on the festival circuit and will debut in France on November 20, 2024, with other territories to follow.
Watch two clips below.
