The Kingdom

UK Release Date. 27 February 2025
Certification. 
Running Time. 1 hour 48 mins
Director. Julien Colonna
Cast. Ghjuvanna Benedetti, Saveriu Santucci.
Rating. 72%

Review.

Following a positive reception at The Cannes Film Festival 2024, Julien Colonna's The Kingdom [original title Le Royaume] received a Scottish Premiere screening as part of the 2025 Glasgow Film Festival, 26 February - 9 March 2025. 

Set in Corsica in 1995, a dramatic period of upheaval in the island's social, political and economic prospects, Julien Colonna's film offers an authentic experience of his native island, with its rich history and complex culture. 

The film is bolstered by powerfully understated, debut screen performances from (until then) non-professional actors Saveriu Santucci and Ghjuvanna Benedetti. The casting of Santucci as Pierre-Paul Savelli and Benedetti as Lesia, his daughter was a triumph; and one that apparently took over eight months to complete. The gradual transformation of an innocent teenage girl into an accessory to organised violence is not unique amidst the crime genre, but the magnetism between the on-screen father and daughter makes this story feel authentic. Genuine affection is conveyed, and the closeness that grows between father and daughter is touching.

Jeane Henry's screenplay curtails the narrative to Lesia's limited perspective. Much of the main protagonists' backstories remain unexplained. The director, Colonna largely downplays the violence one would typically associate with the genre, keeping the retaliatory strikes off-screen until relatively late in the film - at which point, the retributions are stone-cold efficient.

A confident debut by Colonna and a highly credible reconstruction of the atmosphere created by criminality.