Dominique has known about her husband’s mistresses for years but now anxiously demands the affection that he has offered to others. Doillon’s unflinching direction (and performance as the husband) explores the disintegration of a marriage and the splintering of a psyche with unforgettable results. Dominique Laffin received a César nomination for Best Actress.

Outcast from most of society and much of his family, François kidnaps young Mado in an act of despair and longing. Unloved by her own family, Mado finds that her captor also acts as her protector. This seemingly odd pair soon grows close in a way that society cannot comprehend. Awarded the Prix du Jeune Cinéma at the Cannes Film Festival, where Doillon also won Best Director.

Doillon has always been enormously sympathetic to children, and Family Life is a particularly powerful exploration of a daughter’s fissured relationship with her father, now remarried with a stepdaughter. Through weekend visits and video diaries, the young Elise learns to make time and peace with him and her evolving concept of family.

This 1990 recipient of the Prix Louis Delluc tells the tale of a young boy who picks up the phone and hears someone claiming to be his sister—a sister he thought was dead. A raw portrait of youth and one of Doillon’s best. Gérald Thomassin received a César nomination for his portrayal of the intense young brother.

After running away from her abusive home, 13 year-old Talia falls in with a group of street kids. When her precious dog is stolen by a charismatic older boy, she convinces the petits frères to sweep the Paris suburbs looking for him. Admirably pitiless in his approach, Doillon works to emphasize Talia's resourcefulness without ignoring economic and racial tensions. He recognizes the capacity for human connection even in a mercenary environment.

Teenage orphan Raja works in the garden of Fred, an older Frenchman. The attention he lavishes on her is tempered by their lack of a common language and her brother’s insistence that she marry his friend. A triumph of filmmaking and storytelling. Benssallem won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her honest portrayal of the conflicted Raja.

What initially seems to strain credibility comes to resemble a bold reimagining of the laws of human nature, heightened by physical, fully committed performances. Complications arise when Camille, bored with life, decides to give her unbridled love to "just anybody," as embodied by aggressive drifter Gérald Thomassin from Le Petit Criminel. Challenging but mesmerizing. Recipient of the Prix Jean Vigo.

Doillon's shift toward character abstractions reaches its apex in his latest film, here receiving its Chicago premiere. A woman (Sara Forestier) arrives in the country to settle her father's estate and resume a budding relationship with a neighbor (James Thierrée). As the banter between the two escalates into a series of therapeutic/erotic brawls, one marvels that a veteran director like Doillon is still taking huge risks and making them pay off.