It seems like a subject American movies won’t touch, the female-centered, sexually charged coming-of-age story, is practically a whole subgenre unto itself in France. Sure, Hollywood will churn out smutty comedies like American Pie, but I’m hard-pressed to come up with anything like this teen drama, despite the fact that the feelings it explores are hardly uncommon. The particulars are three girls of about 15. Marie, the central character, is a boyish-looking girl who becomes infatuated with the voluptuous captain of her school’s synchronized-swimming team. Meanwhile, her pudgy, somewhat childish best friend frets with false sophistication about being “somewhat behind on my kissing.” I mention the looks because the story reminds us of how such things are central to the self-identity of teenage girls, and shape the way they are perceived by others. The three young women, with exactly one previous credit between them, are well cast, and director Céline Sciamma, all of 26 during filming, makes a remarkably poised debut that evokes the urgency and uncertainty of adolescent desire. There’s a level of abstraction, or perhaps just subtlety, to the ending that may or may not appeal. I expect to see more of Adèle Haenel, who plays the cool object of Marie’s desires.
IMDB link
viewed 6/18/08 at Ritz Bourse; review posted 7/27/08
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