The Little Sister Review

The Little Sister (2025) is the film adaptation of an autofiction novel by Fatima Daas titled The Last One (2020). This film marks Hafsia Herzi’s third film as a director and writer, directing and writing two other feature-length films: You Deserve a Lover (2019) and Good Mother (2021). However, Hafsia Herzi is a triple threat, starting her career as an actor before transitioning to a filmmaker, first acting in The Secret of the Grain (2007), then starring in House of Tolerance (2011) and The Source (2011), both in competition at Cannes in the same year. The cast of The Little Sister stars Nadia Melliti, Park Ji‑min, Amina Ben Mohamed, Rita Benmannana, and Melissa Guers, all of whom have never worked with Hafsia Herzi prior to this film. For the main actress, Nadia Melliti, this is her first and only credit as an actor. Premiering at the 78th Cannes Film Festival on May 16th, 2025, and winning the Queer Palm and Best Actress for Nadia Melliti’s performance. 

A visually captivating film, with several stunning shots that showcase Hafsia Herzi’s eye for composition. It is a deeply personal story of discovery, with its best moments full of emotional weight and insight. However, even though the cinematography is amazing, the film struggles to hold its audience’s attention throughout the film. 

Both the story and characters are very intriguing, specifically Nadia Melliti in the lead as Fatima. The actress gives off a strong and compelling performance; however, I feel that it isn’t completely deserving of this year’s Best Actress award at Cannes. Which is not to say she wasn’t great, but in a year full of many great female-led projects at the festival, there were some performances that I found a bit better. 

Furthermore, although not the actress’s fault, I felt that a key decision made by the main character regarding her relationship towards the end of the film wasn’t totally in line with the character. I can understand why the filmmakers took the film in this direction, but it’s a little too cliché, and leaves that aspect of the film a little emotionally unsatisfying. 

With that out of the way, one of the film’s highlights is its dialogue, moving skillfully between some of the lighter, more dynamic scenes and the serious emotional moments. The conversations between Fatima and her friends in both high school and college allowed these one-dimensional characters to become funny and memorable people. 

The Little Sister, although not fully hitting its emotional mark, and at some points not the most attention-grabbing, is still an ambitious, cinematically beautiful film with extremely realistic dialogue and strong performances.