The challenge of figuring out who you are as you approach adulthood is so universal, so relatable, that there’s a whole genre built around it: the coming-of-age story. For Fatima (Nadia Melliti), like many other teenagers, there’s an extra wrinkle in hers. She knows, though she has barely acknowledged it even to herself, that she is attracted only to women. But as the youngest daughter in a deeply religious family, she also knows what the consequences of acting on these desires could be.
A movie about a teen from a religious family grappling with her sexual identity is hardly uncommon. But “The Little Sister” is an unusually gentle take on this story, adapted by the director Hafsia Herzi from Fatima Daas’s 2020 novel “The Last One.” It begins in spring, when Fatima and her friends are studying for their baccalaureate exams at their high school in the suburbs of Paris. At home, Fatima prays faithfully, teases her older sisters and affectionately ribs her father and mother, who are Algerian immigrants. At school, she dresses to blend in with her friend group, all boys, and smokes cigarettes with them. She meets furtively with her boyfriend, Ahmed (Razzak Ridha), who wants to get married. But Fatima seems uninterested in him; it’s only her violent outburst when she’s called a lesbian by another student that clues us into the reasons.
The movie unfolds over the seasons as Fatima starts to quietly explore her sexuality. She pays an older woman (Sophie Garagnon) to meet up with her and simply talk about sex, covering over her inexperience and embarrassment with a gruff demeanor. Venturing onto dating apps, she has her first actual sexual experience with another woman, but it’s only when she meets Ji-Na (Park Ji-Min) that she falls in love.
This is Melliti’s screen debut, but the maturity of her performance might suggest otherwise. (She won the best actress prize at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.) With the set of her jaw and the look in her eyes, she manages to hold naïveté and defiance at the same time. Ji-Na’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, and the women break up. But when Fatima enters college in the autumn, she falls in with a new group of friends and meets, for the first time, a whole circle that are openly and happily comfortable in their sexuality. Cassandra (Mouna Soualem), an older lesbian, and her partner, Jade (Jade Fehlmann), introduce her to their community, a much-needed support. Melliti plays this season delicately, as Fatima’s vulnerability and longing for Ji-Na mix with her elation at having found her people. Her body language shifts from bold swagger to ecstatic passion to youthful longing. It’s a gorgeous, understated performance.
Many a similar film depends on external conflict for its drama, with the protagonist’s religious community or family wreaking havoc on their lives. “The Little Sister” is not that sort of movie. Instead, it takes the trickier dramatic route of portraying Fatima’s conflict as an inner struggle. Her faith is real to her. Prayer is part of the fabric of her identity, and as she feels the conflict between faith and her sexual identity growing stronger, she visits the imam (Abdelali Mamoun) for counsel. His insight confirms some of her worries, but also tells her a lot of what she needs to know.
Even more important is the need to stay close to her family, and it is her loving mother (Amina Ben Mohamed) who reminds her that no matter who Fatima is, and no matter who she discovers herself to be, she is still her daughter — words that many a young person has longed to hear. There is a tender exuberance to “The Little Sister,” which renders Fatima’s development from an uncertain, sullen high school student into a more confident young woman as just one step on a journey. Coming-of-age stories are usually told about young people, but the process takes a whole lifetime.
The Little Sister Not rated. In French and Arabic, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 48 minutes. In theaters.
Alissa Wilkinson is a Times movie critic. She’s been writing about movies since 2005.
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