Sunbathing, swimming in the lake and playing with the siblings: this is how the days go by, in happy repetition. It’s the summer holidays for Lucie, the kid at the center of “Zonder Meer”, and whose point of view the film will adopt to tell the story. In this clever way, a duality is created between the world of adults and that of children. The film faithfully follows Lucie's perspective choosing not to show much beyond that, and sometimes leaving what is most important in the margins of the image, in the viewer's imagination. That's how we realize – even if Lucie doesn't – the uproar around her caused by the disappearance of a boy, and later, when swimming in the lake is banned to allow searches, the gravity of the situation arises to the surface. For Lucie and her siblings this is just an annoyance that spoils their holidays. However, Lucie senses some odd changes in the behavior of those around her, and this first encounter or close proximity with death will leave her curious. The film paints a beautiful and moving portrait of the loss of innocence. This is the second film by the Belgian director Meltse Van Coillie and her debut in Curtas. (JA)