Génépi

Summary

Set in 1998, Génépi follows two cousins in their twenties as they hike through the hills overlooking France’s Plateau d’Assy in search of genepi flowers. What begins as a simple excursion gradually becomes a journey into their shared past, as childhood memories resurface through conversation, silence, and the familiar landscape they once knew together. Their walk leads them to an abandoned sanatorium, a place marked by both history and decay. Exploring its empty spaces, the cousins encounter the physical remains of a world that is disappearing, as well as the emotional traces of their own upbringing. The sanatorium becomes more than a setting: it is a repository for memory, connecting personal recollections with the changing history of the region. Rather than relying on a conventional plot driven by dramatic twists, Génépi unfolds as a reflective, atmospheric portrait of family, place, and time. The cousins’ relationship provides the film’s emotional center, revealing how shared experiences can unite people while also exposing differences in how they remember the past. The search for the flower gives the film a quiet sense of purpose, while the abandoned building lends the story an undercurrent of melancholy. At its heart, Génépi considers the fragility of memory and the ways landscapes preserve—or fail to preserve—the lives connected to them. It is also a film about growing older, revisiting childhood from an adult perspective, and confronting the disappearance of familiar places. Through its mountain setting and unhurried exploration of the sanatorium, the film creates an elegiac meditation on heritage, loss, and the elusive boundary between remembering the past and allowing it to change.