FAT GIRL (A ma soeur!)
Reviewed by Harvey Karten Cowboy Bookings International Director: Catherine Breillat Writer: Catherine Breillat Cast: Anais Reboux, Roxane Mesquida, Libero De Rienzo, Arsinee Khanjian, Romain Goupil, Laura Betti, Albert Goldberg, Claude Sese, Marc Samuel Screened at: Loews Screening Rm., NYC 10/2/01
Being an only child has its advantages, I suppose. Horseback riding lessons, dance lessons, and the like, but oh, what a sibling-less person misses! If a guy has a sister or a girl has a brother or even if you have a sib of the same gender, you get to be a mentor or a mentee, usually the older counseling the younger about the ways of dating, mating and the like. Sometimes the younger person gets to instruct the older, more experienced one, at least according to Catherine Breillat in her striking film "Fat Girl," which is seen from the point of view of a 12-year- old, the title figure, who is clearly less experienced than her 15- year-old sister but who somehow, simply by observing quietly gets to know the ropes vicariously and to use her knowledge to counsel the more attractive companion and family member.
"Fat Girl," selected for viewing at this year's New York Film Festival, is by the writer-director whose "Romance" two years ago stirred up as much discussion as "Mulholland Drive" has been doing nowadays, though for different reasons. "Romance," about a woman who is rejected by her lover and goes on a sexual odyssey is sexually explicit, but because writer-director Catherine Breillat went over the line with pornographic techniques into the field of gynecology rather than eroticism, the film was not really titillating. With "Fat Girl," on the other hand, Breillet wisely steers clears of the Debbie-Does-Dallas school of filmmaking--though full frontal nudity is no problem for her or her performers--but she uses the sexual scenes to show us their effect on the 12-year-old Anais (Anais Reboux). Anais is a cute enough pre-adolescent who has a weight problem, who overstuffs on French cuisine for the usual psychological reason of building up a layer of armor between her and the world. Anais has a love-hate relationship with her attractive sister, Elena (Roxane Mesquida), hugging and giggling with her one moment, then switching as would an infant into a dissing contest usually initiated by Elena, who is fond of calling Anais a bitch. The two girls share a love-hate relationship with their parents, played by Arsinee Khanjian and Romain Goupil, whose link with their daughters varies from detached to harshly critical.
The story takes place during a summer vacation in modern times, though the clothing is as retro as the mood. Anais watches every move of her sister Elena like a Greek chorus, detached, yet critical, now advising, now consoling, sometimes hostile. When she is off by herself swimming in the pool, she sings to herself and in one arresting scene photographer Yorgos Arvanitis captures her caressing the diving board, then fondling the ladder, while challenging the ladder to show envy toward her previous inanimate object of affection. When Elena meets Fernando (Libero De Rienzo), a third-year Italian law student on holiday, she takes no more than three minutes to begin cuddling with him in an outdoor cafe after which they proceed at night to her room where she engages in more intimacies, albeit greatly conflicted about losing her virginity. What gives the nocturnal scene its heft, so to speak, is that we witness it through the eyes of poor Anais, who is brimming with envy and who sees through Fernando's typically male "line" about how much he loves Elena and how he wants to see her "in the city." Elena and Anais have divergent views about what sort of relationship one should have before going all the way, a difference of philosophy that becomes a key point in the film, given the sudden turn of events that not only jolts the audience almost to its feet but encompasses the best payoff scene of any movie this year.
With an exceptional performance by Anais Reboux in the title role and a moving supporting part by Roxane Mesquida as the conflicted sister, "Fat Girl" becomes a heartfelt work about the altogether mixed joys of adolescence, giving us insight into sibling rivalry and what looks like an authentic look at what goes on in a young woman's mind when she resolves to give herself to a man for the first time.
Not Rated. Running time: 83 minutes. (C) 2001 by Harvey Karten, film_critic@compuserve.com
========== X-RAMR-ID: 29681 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 252493 X-RT-TitleID: 1110567 X-RT-SourceID: 570 X-RT-AuthorID: 1123
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews