(1988)
3
Andrea LeVasseur
After almost a decade of working as a screenwriter, Catherine Breillat returned to directing for the controversial drama 36 Fillette. Criticized for supposedly portraying indecent adolescent sexuality, the story actually focuses on a realistically bratty teenage girl. The complex character of Lili is convincingly played by Delphine Zentout as a rude, confused, and utterly defiant youth. Admittedly, this doesn't make for a very entertaining or contemplative film, but rather one that truthfully exposes the brutal emotional turns of a young girl's awakening sexuality. It works against unnecessary squeamishness because Lili displays a callous, defiant attitude and total ownership of her hyper-feminine body, while at the same time she's completely at a loss of what to do next. In her scene with the musician Boris (Jean-Pierre Leaud, who himself played the defiant youth in The 400 Blows), she reveals a cocky awareness that attempts to hide her inexperienced naïveté. However, the real power struggle comes out in the hotel scene with middle-aged Maurice (Etienne Chicot), where she constantly deviates between total repulsion and a desperate search for thrills. Unfortunately, the ending does become tedious as the characters start talking in circles and nothing much happens, while Maurice reveals himself to be nothing more than a stereotype. Appreciated only by audiences who admire brutal honesty over story line, 36 Fillette is still an achievement for Catherine Breillat, who elaborates on this subject matter in her later work.
36 Fillette on AllMovie
36 Fillette (1988)
