Like notes. Feeling the closeness of his end, the mother, to the extent of his small capabilities, tries to arrange the future of his son – a teenager, going to change his place of residence to be closer to his family, while the recalcitrant teenager, resting, defends the status quo with all his might, not wanting to leave the van that sheltered them for many years, ready to abandon the tempting prospect of getting into a prestigious football school, where he is pushed by an obsessed physical assistant.
Cinema finds its characters in a moment of brewing critical changes associated with the inevitable encounter with death and the state before and after it, in fear of expectations and fears for the future, covering each of them from different sides. The pain of the mother and the fear of the son, standing at an unknown frontier of growing up and masculinity, not yet conscious cyclicality of the world, constantly reproducing the fading life of generations by the life of descendants.
Disclosure of the theme occurs through the linking of the plot to the history of the creation and the musical text of Gustav Mahler's sixth symphony, which is rehearsed by the famous conductor who came to Montpellier, preparing to stun the noble audience, himself suddenly stunned by the invasion of a boy who called himself his son, outraged that someone is trying to make him a father. But both find an interest in making acquaintance, more necessary for a young man thinking about the upcoming decision, however, the maestro also expects something from him, looking at his genetic code, meticulously following the musicality of the consciousness of a teenager deepening into the wilds of tragic notes.
Having abandoned football, the young man delves into the intricacies of previously unknown artistic forms, reading stories about the stylistic features and content side of each of the parts of the monumental work, to which musicologists attribute the scale of the global worldview, noting the decadent despondency of its brilliant author.
Neither the world of creativity, nor the dream of a “golden age” seem to him (Maler) a more salvific anchor in the struggle against the unknown forces of life. A person who has passed through all the thorns of the struggle - willpower and despair, detachment of loneliness and faith in himself, on the threshold of the achievement of hope, a tragic end awaits - this is the idea of the Sixth. It was as if thought, ahead of the course of events, looked into the future, where it appeared to her firsthand how the line of life was broken.
So, out of a desire to get closer to an unfamiliar father, the boy comes to comprehend the musical language, and, it would seem, the father, who is completely unprepared for kinship, shares with his son not his advice, but a valuable story that leads the boy to understand the essence of an incomprehensible fate, hitting the hammer three times, resting on the hopelessness of the end, finishing Mahler himself, horrified by his vision, in vain fright striking out the last blow from the score.
In the comprehension of the musical text, an active role is played by Romain Paul - an unusually authentic young man, like his character, who at first barely pronounced the composer's name, then on equal terms discussing with the colorful Gregory Gadebois, who has the master's confidence over the conductor's remote and the appearance of the Russian monarch, who is related to this uncouth debutant, who, in turn, finds the very genuine interest in a very important personal decision that the main character, who is not going to lie down cruelly without complaining.