Girls Can't Swim
Female adolescent sexuality, not exactly a neglected topic in French cinema, receives yet another examination in this debut feature from director Anne-Sophie Birot. A look at the troubled friendship between two teenage girls coping with family problems and their own burgeoning womanhood, "Girls Can't Swim" is a sometimes incisive and sensitive portrait that is undercut by its awkward structure and a final veering toward melodrama. It is receiving an exclusive theatrical run at New York's Quad Cinema.
The film focuses on 15-year-old Gwen Isild Le Besco), who lives on the Brittany coast with her parents, and her friend Lise (Karen Alyx), a city girl who lives with her mother and two older sisters. The girls are experiencing difficulties at home: Gwen's parents are in dire straits financially, with her fisherman father resorting to renting their driveway to some vacationing tourists
Lise, who visits Brittany with her family every summer, finds her trip disrupted by the death of the father who abandoned the family years earlier and the resulting emotional breakdown of her mother.
Gwen spends much of her time exploring the boundaries of her burgeoning sexuality, both with her boyfriend and with the teenage boys visiting the area. When Lise's family problems become even more pronounced, she runs away from home, showing up at Gwen's doorstep. It soon becomes apparent that Lise's feelings for Gwen border on the romantic, and things become even more complicated when Gwen's father, frustrated by his worsening relationship with his daughter, finds himself attracted to her friend.
While the film contains many incisive moments in its depiction of the complex relationship between the central characters, the odd structure -- the first part concentrates on Gwen, the second on Lise, the third on their reunion -- is needlessly complex and confusing, and the violent conclusion seems forced. Also, despite the fine performances by the two leads -- Le Besco is particularly riveting in her portrait of teenage emotional messiness -- the characters never quite come into focus, though admittedly that could be said of adolescents in general.
GIRLS CAN'T SWIM
Wellspring
Credits:
Director: Anne-Sophie Birot
Screenwriters: Anne-Sophie Birot, Christophe Honore
Producer: Philippe Jacquier (Sepia Production)
Co-producer: Yvon Crenn (YMC Production)
Director of photography: Nathalie Durnad
Art director: Yvon Moreno
Original music: Ernest Chausson
Editor: Pascale Chavance
Cast:
Gwen: Isild Le Besco
Lise: Karen Alyx
Celine: Pascale Bussieres
Alain: Pascal Elso
Anne-Marie: Marie Riviere
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 101 minutes...
The film focuses on 15-year-old Gwen Isild Le Besco), who lives on the Brittany coast with her parents, and her friend Lise (Karen Alyx), a city girl who lives with her mother and two older sisters. The girls are experiencing difficulties at home: Gwen's parents are in dire straits financially, with her fisherman father resorting to renting their driveway to some vacationing tourists
Lise, who visits Brittany with her family every summer, finds her trip disrupted by the death of the father who abandoned the family years earlier and the resulting emotional breakdown of her mother.
Gwen spends much of her time exploring the boundaries of her burgeoning sexuality, both with her boyfriend and with the teenage boys visiting the area. When Lise's family problems become even more pronounced, she runs away from home, showing up at Gwen's doorstep. It soon becomes apparent that Lise's feelings for Gwen border on the romantic, and things become even more complicated when Gwen's father, frustrated by his worsening relationship with his daughter, finds himself attracted to her friend.
While the film contains many incisive moments in its depiction of the complex relationship between the central characters, the odd structure -- the first part concentrates on Gwen, the second on Lise, the third on their reunion -- is needlessly complex and confusing, and the violent conclusion seems forced. Also, despite the fine performances by the two leads -- Le Besco is particularly riveting in her portrait of teenage emotional messiness -- the characters never quite come into focus, though admittedly that could be said of adolescents in general.
GIRLS CAN'T SWIM
Wellspring
Credits:
Director: Anne-Sophie Birot
Screenwriters: Anne-Sophie Birot, Christophe Honore
Producer: Philippe Jacquier (Sepia Production)
Co-producer: Yvon Crenn (YMC Production)
Director of photography: Nathalie Durnad
Art director: Yvon Moreno
Original music: Ernest Chausson
Editor: Pascale Chavance
Cast:
Gwen: Isild Le Besco
Lise: Karen Alyx
Celine: Pascale Bussieres
Alain: Pascal Elso
Anne-Marie: Marie Riviere
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 101 minutes...
- 4/26/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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