Melissa P.

I saw this film for the presence in cast of Geraldine Chaplin. And it was just a very good motif, her elvira being just inspired way for define a wise grandmother portrait. But, scene , by scene, I was seduced by the fair, precise, honest image of a teen life. The vulnerability, the innocence about interests of the attractive guy , the last using, in cynic manner, this, the discover of her sexuality , as source of fear, later as tool for manipulate, the pragmatism of age and the diary are the good points of a film proposing a realistic image of a not so comfortable age and the mechanisms of adaptation.

In short, smart crafted story, nice acting, good moral.

An Italo-Spanish co-production about the sexual awakening of teenager Melissa, loosely based in the semi-autobiographic novel "100 colpi di spazzola prima di andare a dormire" by Melissa Panarello.

The movie shows the dilemmas, challenges, and darkness that young women face when they become sexual beings, try to accept their sexuality, but have no sexual education or guidance.

It is truly rare finding a movie that focus on teenager women and sex, and not men, and in which the woman is presented as an explicitly sexual human being.

The movie is frank and even ruthless in its approach to contemporary teens' sexuality in general and Melissa's in particular. We see her strong shameless strong sex drive, which she cannot harmonize with her wish to be loved and respected as a woman by a man. She struggles making sense of the importance of accepting social boundaries and not giving way to peer pressure to fit into a group, which is a quintessential teen problem. Melissa's awakening is a path of pain as well as of pleasure, but takes her to very dark places, in scenes that can be disturbing.

Despite the good premises, the script is uneven, not always engaging, and has most adult characters barely sketched except for Melissa's and for Melissa's charming eccentric grandmother -played by Geraldine Chaplin-. The character of Melissa's mother Daria -played by Fabrizia Sacchi- is barely drawn, and very stereotypical. The absent father, and his marital relationship with Daria, is barely explained, just a reference outside. Most male teen characters are depicted as despicable villains, stereotypical machos, and I don't think I want to believe that is always the case.

Maria Valverde is very good as Melissa, actually, she's the best thing in the movie. She has an impressive acting registry for such a young age. Her face is splendorous always, her expression innocent, childish, weak and boyish sometimes, hyper-feminine, dramatic, strong and sexual some others. Valverde has to deal with very raunchy scenes, some of them very dramatic, and she succeeds at making believable her character. Geraldine Chaplin is always a delight, but I did not find her especially inspired in this movie, mostly because the way her character is written. The rest of the actors are just OK.

A not always engaging movie, but with some interesting themes and a good performance by Valverde.

(2005) Melissa P.

(In Italian with English subtitles) BIO DRAMA

Adapted from a memoir or autobiography "One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed" by Melissa Panarello detailing at least a year of her journey of sexual experiences by the month of the weather. Co-written and directed by Luca Guadagnino that opens with Melissa played by María Valverde as she is also the narrator starting with "Summer" as viewers are hearing what she has written on her diary with the last day of the school year, both her and her best friend, Manuela Bozzini (Letizia Ciampa) are invited to Daniela's pool house. Daniela also happens to be the guy Melissa has a crush on, he is played by Primo Reggiani, and in the movie, he appears to be arrogant, self absorbed and an ego maniac, which rises to the question why would anyone be attracted to someone like that in the first place. And throughout the entire movie Daniele treats her terrible. Anyways, there is someone who is capable to treat and be with her for the right reasons, his name is Marco De Angelis (Nilo Mur) for it is just a matter of time of when she notices him. The more Melissa's sexual awakening is ignored by her mom as her dad is always away because of work required him to be overseas, the only family member she has the most rapport with happens to be her grandmother, Elvira (Geraldine Chaplin). Melissa's tart behavior worsens as soon as her grandmother is sent to a care home.

I do not know how the author herself thought about the movie, but I thought the makers did a poor job addressing how Daniele's other peers thought about the supposedly most popular teenager he is sought since he is supposed to be the wealthiest or the one girls want the most as their are only two teens on Melissa's peer group who are tall and appear to treat female counterparts like dirt. And if anyone were to watch this, you can tell the author herself was not even credited as a consultant as the movie was supposed to be about her and what she had written in her diaries/ memoir.

I was so glad to see a film reach for reality. Too many films drop the ball on actually hitting what truly does happen in real life. Built the story and ran with it , great decision making on all accounts during the filming. Just wished they push the envelope a lil more, would've made this a lot better. Certain scenes missed on how it went down & what happened immediately after, not the next day or hours later. Would've been great to see how a few scenes actually ended & how the main character walked away from it ? ***IF anyone knows any other films similar to this, Please fill me in.

I've written 5 movies myself, just not sure how to get them out there ?

I saw very little of the book in this film, this is not to say that this alone makes for a poor movie. As a matter of fact it was better that the book despite the fact that I still thought it was awful. I personally feel that the only reason any one bothered to make this book into a film was because of the shock value. Melissa's sexual exploits were for the most part disgusting and whatever was left over was disturbing. I'm not prude but that book nauseated me, and the movie wasn't much better. At least the movie had some kind of a story. The book was more or less a detailed list of all the raunchy things she had done in her past, there was no connection between her and any part of her family. No mention of the grandmother that figures quite largely into the movie's plot, not a peep. All in all if you have the choice between the movie or the book pick the movie, at least it is shorter.