Blandine et les Siens

In 1994, eleven-year-old Blandine-Pacifique's world was turned upside down when her father, mother and brother, Tutsis from Butare, were massacred in the Rwanda genocide. She was taken in by Odette, the wife of a Hutu soldier, who took her to safety in exile in Zaire a few weeks later. In Switzerland, Eugénie, an aunt of Blandine's, had reluctantly accepted that most of her family was dead, as she had heard nothing from them since the end of the genocide. Ten months later, however, she regains hope when she learns that Blandine, her brother Joachim's daughter, is perhaps still alive. Eugénie and her husband Didier search high and low. They discover that Blandine is staying with a foster family in Zaire. Eugénie and Didier bring her to Switzerland. Blandine arrives in Cuarnens in the thick of winter and learns to live with her secret torment. Her aunt and uncle adopt her. Having once had a big brother, Blandine now has a little sister, Odile. Blandine thrives but sinks into darkness when she enters adolescence and is consumed by a desire to die. She battles with herself, wavers, falls into depression, pulls herself out of it and chooses life. The film accompanies Blandine as she explores her own life, first in Switzerland with her new family, and then with Eugénie and Odile in Rwanda, where she returns to the spot where her childhood was shattered. She finds Odette, to whom she owes her life, and Eugénie gives her a cow, the ultimate thank-you gift. Back in Switzerland, Blandine finds a job at a well-known publishing house. Ironically, after the extreme, widespread poverty in Rwanda, Blandine's first job is to promote a recipe book by one of the most famous chefs of the day.