Sightlines · reception
How The Little Sister was received
2025 · Hafsia Herzi · The Little Sister on Sightlines
The arc
It arrived already garlanded — a Cannes 2025 competition premiere that took home Best Actress and the Queer Palm — so its story so far is less reappraisal than confirmation that Hafsia Herzi is as serious a director as she is an actress.
What’s debated
The talking point is Nadia Melliti's Cannes Best Actress win in her very first screen role — a jury call fans still cite as either the festival's gutsiest recent pick or its biggest surprise.
Its footprint
It's fast becoming a touchstone for queer Muslim representation in French cinema, the film people reach for when that conversation comes up.
Where it stands
An early-days canon climber — the kind of Cannes prize-winner Letterboxd's French-cinema and queer-cinema crowds are already filing under essential.
Did you know? Lead Nadia Melliti had never acted before — she was a philosophy student street-cast for the role — and won Best Actress at Cannes 2025 for her debut performance.