A teenage girl, Ava, learns she is going to lose her eye sight, and go blind. Ava tries to take her mind off of it by focussing on a boy she likes and his dog.
Blaine: Lea Mysius had written the script for “AVA” while she was in film school. It gave her credit to help her graduate. After she graduated, Lea made two short films and one of them was seen by a producer, who has been in the film business for a very long time, Jean-Louis Livi. Jean thought Lea was brilliant and wanted to help Lea share her work to the world. Lea wanted to bring the story for “AVA” to life. She showed Jean the script and he did everything to get the money for the budget. Jean collected the money from four different studios and Lea herself was already starting her own production company with Louis Livi. Lea could afford to make “AVA” any way she wanted to make it. There was enough money to shoot the film in 35mm and that was rare for Lea, especially sense this was her first full length feature. The cinematographer had looked through the script and wrote down stuff on how “AVA” should be shot so they could put the 35mm to good use.
The actress who was hired to play Ava, Noee Abita, was older than the character, but there was something about Noee that made Lea feel she was right for the part. Lea would rehearse scenes with Noee a lot before principal photography began and Noee was becoming the character Lea wanted to see.
The idea for “AVA” started off with the thought of a dog wandering through a beach that Lea Mysius used to hang around growing up. And “AVA” begins with a dog passing by people on the beach and then finds it’s way to Ava as she is lying in the sun with chips on her chest. Ava likes the dog, so she follows it and it leads her to a boy, Juan, who is the dog’s owner. It’s love at first sight for Ava and it’s a good thing it came sooner than later because shortly after that her eye doctor informs her she’ll lose her sight.
Ava’s mom, Maud, is upset that her daughter is going to lose her eye sight. Maud doesn’t want to think about it. What she does want is for Ava to enjoy herself while she can still see. Maud wants Ava to be able to see things that she’ll remember. It’s good to remember what fun looks like. Maud likes to smile a lot and likes to have fun. She’s a singe mother of two, and she believes people should take advantage of life to enjoy it. Juan meets someone on the beach. He’s a nice guy and he comforts Ava when she hates the thought of being blind.
Ava has her sight on a boy as well, and we know it’s Juan. Maud can sense that Ava has a crush on someone even though Ava won’t admit it. Ava is at an age where she has trouble figuring out how to get a boy to like her.
Ava looks at everything that surrounds her and the dog finds it’s way into the picture. The dog I would say is cupid sense it’s what brings Ava and Juan together. Of course Ava is in love with the dog too. Ava takes the dog with her and has him be her seeing eye dog. Ava puts a blindfold on as part of a practice for when she is blind and she has the dog as her seeing eye dog. If she is going to be blind she is going to have to learn how to survive without a sight. Ava also has a stick to help. Ava climbs on top of a house roof and walks on it as if she is on a high wire. The thought of losing her sight is still scary to Ava. She fears the dark because that’s all she’ll see in the future.
Ava takes the dog to the beach, goes in the water and when she returns to shore, Juan is there staring at her. Juan isn’t angry with Ava for taking his dog. The dog likes to wander a lot. If it didn’t wander it wouldn’t have found Ava. I also think Juan understands how lovable his dog is. The next day, Ava finds the dog in her apartment. Both Juan and the dog are hurt and the dog went to Ava for help. Ava goes to the beach and finds Juan unconscious with a wound on his side. Ava drags Juan into a cave, does what she can to help him and spends the night lying next to him.
Juan and the dog are going to be fine thanks to Ava. And here’s Ava’s chance to spend quality time with Juan and get to know him. They have fun together on the beach by putting mud on their nude bodies, looking like they are apart of a tribe and messing with people on a nude beach. Juan has problems with the authorities. The first time Ava saw Juan, he was being arrested by two cops. Juan’s no bad boy, but he is a trouble maker. He’s just a kid, who probably does what he can do to survive. Juan enjoys the time he spends with Ava and it’s nice for him to hang around someone who doesn’t mind trouble.
The cops find Juan and almost arrest him, but Ava stops them by threatening them with a gun. She is bad ass and it scares the cops. Love can make you do crazy things some times. Ava, Juan and the dog flee and plan to run away together, but first Juan needs his wallet and his car from the trailer park he lives at. Ava goes in and there is a wedding happening for someone Juan knows. Her name is Jessica and Juan had a crush on her, but she was engaged and Juan found a new love, Ava. Ava recognizes Jessica because she has seen her before at a restaurant. While everyone is partying, Ava looks through one of the trailers. Ava finds Juan's wallet, but not his car keys. Authorities show up, crash the wedding and arrest the groom. Jessica doesn’t want her husband taken away. The wedding was fine until the authorities ruined it. Juan shows up to make sure Ava is alright. They both sneak through the cops and climb down a waterfall.
Jessica manages to find them and gives them a car to escape in. Jessica knows those two love each other. Jessica is disappointed that what should be the best day of her life was ruined when the cops arrested her husband, but she feels at least one couple should have a happy ending. Writer and director Lea Mysius wanted people to feel happy after seeing “AVA” knowing Ava and Juan were going to make it. After seeing Ava run from the law, you forgot she is going to lose her sight. The important thing is she is with the man that she loves. And Juan I believe will be there to take care of Ava when she goes blind. Couples take care of each other. There’s the question of where the dog is and why he isn’t with Ava and Juan at the end? I mean all three of them were a team. But still I’m glad things worked out in the end.
Cannes is one of the biggest film festivals and it’s a huge honor for any filmmaker, especially if you’re a first timer, to have something you’ve worked on premiere there. “AVA” was honored the SACD Award at Cannes for Best feature and the Palm Dog-Jury Prize as well.
