Fat Girl

Oddly titled 'Fat Girl' for international release, the ambiguity of the original French title of this Catherine Breillat movie is quite important as the film is equally about two sisters: one conventionally pretty and the other slightly overweight. Roxane Mesquida and Anaïs Reboux share excellent chemistry in the respective roles as a family vacation affords them a chance to indulge in their emerging sexual appetites. At times, the girls are highly competitive with Mesquida expressing contempt for the younger Reboux to look cool in front of an Italian law student they befriend; at other times though, the sisters laugh together and share intimate secrets like lifelong best friends. Some have been critical of the explicit sexual scenes here, however, Breillat keeps them minimal and a distance; indeed, in the moments when Mesquida is intimate with her newfound boyfriend, we hear everything but see nearly nothing as the camera focuses on Reboux's face, pretending to be asleep in the hotel room she shares with her sister. If there is something to hold against the film, it is the meandering second half with a lot of lengthy drives taking up much of the screen time with tension evaporating once Mesquida has gone all the way. An unexpected plot turn in the final ten minutes of the film does, however, ensure that the movie ends on a thought-provoking (if not necessarily satisfying) final note.