Marion Cotillard brings mother-son drama Milo to San Sebastian competition

Marion Cotillard has returned to San Sebastian with a mother-son drama 20 years in the making.

Milo, known in French as 7h40 ce matin-là, premiered in Competition, the festival's main awards race, at the San Sebastian Film Festival, The Hollywood Reporter reported on 24 September 2026. The French drama runs 1 hour 54 minutes and screens as part of the Official Selection.

Cotillard stars as Alice, a woman newly out of prison who tries to reconnect with the son she abandoned two decades earlier. Her son is Milo, played by Théodore Pellerin as a 20-year-old auto mechanic working at a nearby garage. The reunion does not go to plan.

The plan breaks when Milo's adoptive mother recognises Alice. That role goes to Laure Calamy. The wider cast includes Artus, Alexis Manenti, Charles Berling, Éric Elmosnino and Anne Brochet alongside Cotillard and Pellerin.

The film is directed and co-written by Nicole Garcia, an actress turned director who was born in Oran in 1946, according to the San Sebastian Festival. Cotillard arrives with a strong festival history. She has won both an Oscar and the festival's Donostia Award for career achievement.

This year's gathering is the 74th edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival, scheduled for 18 to 26 September 2026. Competition places Milo among the titles in line for the festival's top honours. The selection was first announced in July.

That announcement brought a first look at the two leads. Studiocanal and Trésor Films released a new image of Cotillard and Pellerin together to coincide with the competition slot, Deadline reported at the time.

For audiences, this means a simple setup with high personal stakes. One woman seeks a second chance. One young man learns his past is not what he thought. The rest of the story plays out between those two points.