There is an old Polish saying ‘third time lucky’, which means that when doing something for the third time, you should finally succeed. But the saying is old. Today we can try five or even eight times. Because after all we must succeed.

This is what we observe in Xabi Molia’s ‘Eight Times Up’, which keeps us waiting for the protagonist’s success for the whole two hours. We keep a watchful eye on her when she is looking for a job, making numerous interviews, meeting her 10-year-old son every two weeks. Julie Gayet (Elsa) is great in building suspense, keeping us in the belief that something must happen, that in a moment her life will change. After all, she is ‘determined and motivated’, or at least she thinks so.

The spectator is kept in the belief that there’s a mystery, a very important reason for the young French woman to be thrown out of her flat because she haven’t paid the rent, and then to end up in a forest with her neighbor who is having similar problems. Perhaps this radical change of the environment causes her to move, and in consequence causes a change in herself.

A superb creation, perfect acting, a role which makes the French director’s debut film so memorable. I don’t know how many times François-Xavier Molia has tried, but in the case of full-length films he achieved success with the first one.

Elżbieta Styczyńska – the spectator at TWO RIVERSIDES Festival