Monster

A single mother becomes convinced that her young son's teacher has mistreated him, and she confronts the school. The film then retells the same stretch of events from the perspectives of the mother, the teacher, and the child, and each retelling changes the meaning of what came before, opening onto the secret inner world shared by two boys.

The layered structure exposes how adult assumptions can misread a child, and how shame, fear, and an emerging queer attachment can hide in plain sight. It is a study of childhood interiority and of how much of a child's real life stays unseen by the adults around them. It won the award for Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023.