Review by ulicknormanowen

Young Max Baissette de Malglaive is the only reason you would watch this ,but his performance is absolutely mind-boggling as an autistic teenager .A person suffering from Asperger's syndrome tends to have an obsessive focus on one topic and is likely to perform the same behaviour repeatedly.Léo(nard) is a chess whizz and when he is on a football field ,he applies his gift to the game : complicated diagrams -which the average viewer cannot decipher ,which makes sense - appear on the screen ;turned in on himself ,he cannot relate to the other team members ,some of whom get jealous because they are no longer able to score a goal.Never an actor ,a fortiori a young one, has used such a rapid delivery : it would almost take subtitles to understand all his words ,but it's better that way :thus the viewer is in the person he speaking to's shoes .I give an extra star to the movie for his unique performance.

Unfortunately,it's not all good news ;both the coach and the sports doctor are carboard and their attitude is predictable to a fault :the smug grumpy pushy (and a bit macho) athlete -whose career was prematurely broken - and the sensible wise sympathetic (and very attractive)woman doctor , who are at odds ,but who finally get on to save the "little light" which might go out ,how many times have you seen them? Probably a hundred times or more.....

Taken in isolation of his co-stars, Max Baissette de Malglaive is brilliant ;see the movie for him.