Mélisa Godet‘s sensitive and inspiring debut follows the lives and work of the staff at an independent women’s health and support centre in Paris. With a stellar ensemble cast and a script derived from the stories and experiences of the staff and clients of the real La Maison des Femmes in Saint-Denis, A Place for Her never shies away from the harrowing reality of the women helped by these services, but paints an ultimately uplifting portrait of solidarity, inclusivity, and resilience.

Karin Viard heads the cast as Dr Diane Khoury, who runs the centre and provides reconstructive surgery for survivors of femal genital mutilation. Struggling for funds, the centre comes under investigation by government auditors while its staff try to keep up the standard of the services they provide, and juggle issues in their private lives.

A Place for Her deftly weaves together several disparate strands in a way that may occasionally bite off more than its runtime can chew, but which which largely succeeds in paying appropriate respect to its multi-stranded narrative. We see much of the story through a new addition to the team, Inès (Oulaya Amamra), who acts as an audience surrogate to some extent, and we learn the inner workings of the centre as she does. We also meet Manon (Laetitia Dosch), the centre’s midwife and a new mother herself, and unflappable nurse Awa (Eye Haïdara), each a vital part of the team in their own right.

Through their work, the film deals with cases from a wide cross-section of French society. There are inevitably the ubiquitous cases of domestic abuse. The centre also provides group therapy, individual sessions, and wider communal sessions like jewellery making and photography. While there is some difficult material – exacerbated by the arrival of the Covid pandemic, and the sudden severing of the support network for many women – the film is characterised by its light touch and the focus on celebrating the courage and rehabilitation of the centre’s clients, and those who work with such dedication to help. The characters are well-written and performed, but never saintly. Occasionally they turn up hungover after some much-needed venting of steam, and they affectionately indulge in some ironically mocking banter at the expense of the few male members of staff.

There are a few instances where a staff member’s personal life finds a dramatic parallel to their professional in a way that seems a little artificial given the authenticity that permeates the rest of the film, but otherwise there is a determined effort to avoid melodrama and to remain optimistic but clear-eyed throughout. This is helped by the talented cast that provide naturalistic performances and a that deft script written with incredible sincerity. This is as far removed from misery porn as it is possible to be, while acknowledging the awful abuse suffered by many of these women. In terms of both tone and content, A Place for Her would make a suitable companion piece to Phyllis Nagy‘s Call Jane. Both are part of a newer seam of female-led tales that choose to celebrate the resilience and the cameraderie of their subjects, rather than wallow in the actions that made them victims.

Screening as part of Glasgow Film Festival on Sun 1 & Mon 2 Mar 2026