At the fraying tail end of French colonialism, at an army base in early 1970s Madagascar, the soldiers and their families cling to an expat lifestyle that will soon be relegated to the past. Cocktails and parties set against the tropical sweep of this bewitching island; churning undercurrents of sexual tension: all of it is observed by the keen eye of eight-year-old Thomas (Charlie Vauselle), a comic-book-obsessed spy on a thorny adult world that he doesn’t fully comprehend.

Director Robin Campillo draws on his own childhood for his follow-up to 120 Beats Per Minute, his stunning 2017 account of Aids-era activism. And while this slightly episodic film lacks some of the deft, dynamic handling of multiple story strands and characters that made his Cannes winner such a thrilling watch, it captures beautifully and atmospherically a sense of mounting tension as the military men grapple with their impotency in a newly independent country.

• In cinemas and on Curzon Home Cinema