I have yet to be real impressed with any of Catherine Breillat's works that I've seen at this point. All of them tend to have interesting concepts, but get lost in their own self-indulgence. Breillat is also known for tackling "racy" subject matter - but seems to only be able to do so in the most boring manners possible. The weird thing is - I don't really "hate" any of the three or four films of hers that I've seen - I just can't find much about any of them that I think is all that exceptional either - and A REAL YOUNG GIRL is no exception, and honestly - this one is about the dullest of the bunch.
Alice is a pre-18-year-old that is spending her summer at her family's home on break from the boarding school that she attends. Early on we learn that Alice is both sexually naive and adventurous - teeting in a limbo between youthful innocence and sexual maturity. She finds herself bored most of the time, and uses this free time to explore her cooch in rather odd fashions(with a spoon, with ink, sticking a bottle in herself, etc...) and giving in to strange compulsions (walking through fields with her underwear around her ankles, riding her bike with her skirt hiked up and her ass showin', leaving her underwear on the corpse of a dead dog, fantasizing of a worm being shredded and dropped on her fur-pie etc...), and also with trying to seduce any of the men in her vacinity, often to no avail. There's also an obvious but somewhat understated sexual-tension between Alice and her father that is never really resolved. The film plods along from one "weird" scene to another with a good but of boring sh!t in between - and then finally ends abruptly with no resolution or insight provided for the viewer...
Soooo...here's the good points: The lead lolita is definitely hot and bears all in thefilm - I'll never complain about. There is (what some would consider) some "aberrant" sexual behavior that may be of interest to exploit-style film-fans. The "coming of age" concept from a uniquely female point-of-view is interesting as well. Problem is - the way the film is presented, none of it seems to amount to anything - and therein lies the weaknesses. Though Breillat has always seemed to be a bit of a "shock artist" - she presents things in such a matter-of-fact (and often boring) manner, that the only ones who will be truly "shocked" by the material portrayed are prudes who will never watch her films in the first place. It's also kind of a shame that none of the nude or sexually-driven scenes are in the least bit erotic. I understand that probably isn't the director's intention in the first place, but I personally prefer to have some "sexuality" with my sex. I can also never really find a "point" to any of her films. I've read other reviews of her films that go on and on about "symbolism" and whatnot, but I don't really see it - maybe it's a French thing. To sum up - A REAL YOUNG GIRL is a semi-graphic tale of a girl trying to understand and control her own sexuality - and though effective in some ways, it fails on the level that I would think should be most important in this type of film: to gain some sort of insight or understanding of this girl's confusion and angst. Instead, the whole film feels like a bunch of random and slightly bizarre acts strung together for no real purpose. Not to mention the fact that other than the few "choice" scenes, it's pretty much boring as hell..4/10 (would have been a 2/10 and nearly unwatchable without the nudity and other "juicy" bits)...
Alice is a pre-18-year-old that is spending her summer at her family's home on break from the boarding school that she attends. Early on we learn that Alice is both sexually naive and adventurous - teeting in a limbo between youthful innocence and sexual maturity. She finds herself bored most of the time, and uses this free time to explore her cooch in rather odd fashions(with a spoon, with ink, sticking a bottle in herself, etc...) and giving in to strange compulsions (walking through fields with her underwear around her ankles, riding her bike with her skirt hiked up and her ass showin', leaving her underwear on the corpse of a dead dog, fantasizing of a worm being shredded and dropped on her fur-pie etc...), and also with trying to seduce any of the men in her vacinity, often to no avail. There's also an obvious but somewhat understated sexual-tension between Alice and her father that is never really resolved. The film plods along from one "weird" scene to another with a good but of boring sh!t in between - and then finally ends abruptly with no resolution or insight provided for the viewer...
Soooo...here's the good points: The lead lolita is definitely hot and bears all in thefilm - I'll never complain about. There is (what some would consider) some "aberrant" sexual behavior that may be of interest to exploit-style film-fans. The "coming of age" concept from a uniquely female point-of-view is interesting as well. Problem is - the way the film is presented, none of it seems to amount to anything - and therein lies the weaknesses. Though Breillat has always seemed to be a bit of a "shock artist" - she presents things in such a matter-of-fact (and often boring) manner, that the only ones who will be truly "shocked" by the material portrayed are prudes who will never watch her films in the first place. It's also kind of a shame that none of the nude or sexually-driven scenes are in the least bit erotic. I understand that probably isn't the director's intention in the first place, but I personally prefer to have some "sexuality" with my sex. I can also never really find a "point" to any of her films. I've read other reviews of her films that go on and on about "symbolism" and whatnot, but I don't really see it - maybe it's a French thing. To sum up - A REAL YOUNG GIRL is a semi-graphic tale of a girl trying to understand and control her own sexuality - and though effective in some ways, it fails on the level that I would think should be most important in this type of film: to gain some sort of insight or understanding of this girl's confusion and angst. Instead, the whole film feels like a bunch of random and slightly bizarre acts strung together for no real purpose. Not to mention the fact that other than the few "choice" scenes, it's pretty much boring as hell..4/10 (would have been a 2/10 and nearly unwatchable without the nudity and other "juicy" bits)...