Stella

Stella (2008), Sylvie Verheyde's French drama, is available to watch online on iFILM. The director drew on her own childhood for the material; Léora Barbara plays the lead in her film debut, with Karole Rocher, Benjamin Biolay and Guillaume Depardieu in supporting roles.

Paris, 1977. Eleven-year-old Stella knows poker hands better than verb conjugations when she starts the year at a prestigious new school. Her parents run a working-class bar — the two worlds don't cross. She doesn't fit in, and she knows it. But she also senses the school is a door to something different. Verheyde films it all without sentiment, watching her protagonist navigate the gap between where she's from and where she could go. Watch Stella (2008) online on iFILM.