A familiar name to Fantasia audiences, Chloé Cinq-Mars returns to the festival with her debut feature, NESTING / PEAU À PEAU. Delving into the quiet horrors of early motherhood, the film opens with a scream in the night. Pénélope (Rose-Marie Perreault), a new mother grappling with sleep deprivation and postpartum depression, finds herself unable to separate dream from reality. After witnessing a violent hold-up in a convenience store, her already fragile psyche begins to crack.

NESTING / PEAU À PEAU is a psychological thriller that examines the physical and psychological toll of motherhood. As Pénélope’s mental state collapses and her sleep deprivation deepens, the film’s montage mirrors her fragmentation, chaotic, disjointed, and restless. Her growing isolation and the pressures of maternal expectation push her into a paranoid, desperate descent, leading to a series of questionable choices as she struggles to confront buried trauma. The film pulses with subtle yet visceral horrors: raw skin, wide, starved eyes, and guttural sounds that echo through the soundtrack.

Sensitive and haunting, NESTING / PEAU À PEAU offers an intimate, unsettling portrait of a mother unraveling. Rose-Marie Perreault delivers a career-defining performance, capturing Pénélope’s disintegration and tender attempts at self-reclamation. Often alone on screen, her portrayal resonates with aching vulnerability, her mental state captured in her darting gaze and trembling movements.

★★★★ "Devastatingly relatable and achingly beautiful." - Filmhounds

★★★★ "Plenty to Like. Anchored by Cinq-Mars’s dreamy imagery." - Joe Lipsett

"Chilling and deeply human exploration of identity, isolation, and mental health." – Justine Smith

Cast

Rose-Marie Perreault

Director

Chloé Cinq-Mars

Producer

Nicolas Comeau

Jean-marc Fröhle

Writer

Chloé Cinq-Mars

Cinematographer

Léna Mill-Reuillard

Sound Designer

Olivier Calvert

Composer

Nicolas Rabaeus

Editor

Elric Robichon

1976 Productions Canada & Point Prod Switzerland