Listening to The Cure song “To Wish Impossible Things” from 1992 was a key inspiration for Italian filmmaker Carlo Sironi in writing, with Silvana Tamma as co-writer, and directing the Italian-French drama My Summer With Irène.

“The young and timid Clara meets the spirited Irène,” according to a plot description of the website of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival where the movie screened last week in the fest’s Horizons section. “These two girls with absolutely contrasting personalities are brought together by their recent struggle with an illness that, in the midst of their vulnerable adolescent years, has transformed their previous outlook on life. When they impulsively decide to spend some time at the seaside, it feels as if they are actually trying to stop time.”

The idea came quite spontaneously. “The way this movie started is a bit strange for me,” Sironi told an audience at the 58th edition...