A Real Young Girl

The debut film by one of the legends of French cinema enjoyed its first public screenings a full 24 years after it was made, riding the wave of Breillat’s international success associated with Romance. It is a rejected, forgotten, unabashed work that is too bold for the mainstream and too intelligent for pornography. Today, its boldness is astonishing, its mature artistic vision startling, its humor heartwarming. The radical, semi-autobiographical portrait of a sexually mature 14-year-old (played by then-20-year-old Charlotte Alexandra) is a fascinating attempt to take control over the gaze and the human body. A holiday in the countryside provides a juicy background for the adventures of an aroused fantasy and a story of rebellion against the church and family. Sometimes called artsploitation, Breillat’s film abounds in bold erotic scenes, whose pornographic potential is neutralized, however, by poetry, humor and politics. Breillat recognizes that female sexual awakening is subject to social control, the purpose of which is to control girls’ sexual appetite through shaming. This is what Roberto Rosselini heard when he asked the new director what she had to say about sex. “I want to talk about shame,” she replied.