Une vraie jeune fille

Plot synopsis:
Alice Bonnard (Charlotte Alexandra), a 14-year-old girl attending a boarding school in France, comes back to her home in the Landes forest for the summer of 1963. She flashes back to her time at school, where she frequently masturbated out of boredom. Her father (Bruno Balp) hires a young man named Jim (Hiram Keller), with whom Alice immediately becomes infatuated. Alice has a graphic sexual fantasy in which Jim ties her to the ground with barbed wire, and attempts to insert an earthworm into her vagina. When the earthworm will not fit, Jim tears it into small pieces and puts them in Alice's pubic hair.
At a carnival, a middle-aged man exposes himself to her on a ride. She then arrives home and imagines seeing her father's penis. She exposes herself to Jim, and the two masturbate in front of each other, to Alice's chagrin. She discovers her father is having an affair, and Jim tries pressuring her into having sex. He is then shot and killed by a trap Alice's father set up to keep wild boar out of his maize field.

Tags: pornographic

Review:
What more are we looking for when we define something as art?The first clue should be in the title: "A Real Young Girl.'  Our culture (male dominant still,) is fascinated with sexualizing what are in our cultural context, inappropriately young females, that is, pubescent, underaged, or more gracefully put "blossoming."  This is a complex issue not for discussion here, but the point is, artistic treatments of this subject have been predominantly male.
So a "Real Young Girl" may be a statement indicating that the director is going to show you early adolescent female sexuality as it truly is, from someone who has experienced it first hand, and not as it is eroticized by male artists.I think a big point of this film is that it is not pleasant and not easy, not fun or romantic, but painful, confusing, and filled with difficult feelings and disgust.While the film is beautiful and leaves one with a not unpleasant feeling (it's a good film, the ending is abrupt and funny, but no more so than other great avant-garde or new-wave filmmakers.)The eroticism can in no way be seen as pornography, though.
We see very explicit close-up of her vagina, but this is concurrent with her fantasy lover dangling a live worm over it, and eventually pulling the worm apart and dropping the still squirming bits on her pubis.Or a scene where walking on the beach to another fantasy, she drops her panties on the decaying corpse of a dog.Again, interpret for yourself, but you'll see not only a depth of symbol, but a unity of theme in the natural world and decay as related to this young girl's perception of her vagina: something akin to stinky, swampy pit- far from the ripe, juicy peach of male imagination.It gives what seems to my male mind, a convincing portrayal of early adolescent female sexuality from the perspective of a woman.The director clearly loves the female form but the film is no more explicit, and certainly less shocking, than say Pasolini's "Salo."  (In fact, if Pier had been attracted to women, I suspect he would have given us similarly graphic views instead of tending to orient on penises of extraordinary size.)  It's hard to find this film exploitative in comparison to such celebrated films as "Last Tango in Paris."I could go on and on but the point is, this is not a gray area somewhere near pornography, but a valid, necessary, and probably important (though only history will tell,) work..
They have an artistic value and should be seen for that.The film, about a 14-year-old's self discovery stars voluptuous Charlotte Alexandra, who would later appear in Emmanuelle 3.
The first film from Catherine Breillat, the director of "Romance" ('99), that had, upon it's completion in 1975, caused a ratings scandal in France and, beyond being censored, was banned outright.
Tellingly, this year (2000) it finally arrived, with little fanfare, on a screen in Paris as, literally across the street at the MK2 Odeon, another controversial film "Baise-Moi" (2000) was causing riots that led to the film being pulled from cinemas."Une Vraie Jeune Fille" showcases all of the obsessions that mark Breillat's work through to "Romance" and in a way it is almost more interesting to see the film in retrospect, in light of the films that she made after it, as the lietmotifs present in all were not only prefigured in the first film, but this first film also comments on them.A girl returns to her parents house from boarding school for the summer.
She becomes obsessed with a blue collar employee of her father's and his indifference toward her only increases his presence in her numerous sexual fantasies.The film is visceral and, while the camera is often highly subjective, it maintains, via a cool facade deliberately imitating that of 70's soft porn, that lends it a level of objectivity often entirely absent in American cinema (This film will, incidentally, never reach American screens).In the same way that "Romance" operates, this film, while exploring detailed fantasies, uses its objectivity to resist any psychoanalyzation of its protagonist.
This the first film by notorious French director Catherine Breillat.
But this is definitely NOT your average "coming-of-age" story.Both the French and English titles suggests that this is a story about a REAL (as opposed to "really") young girl.
Obviously, this movie in many ways is not particularly erotic.In her typical fashion though Breillat has cast a beautiful twenty-something softcore porn actress (Charlotte Alexandra, who also appeared in "Immoral Tales" and "Goodbye, Emanuelle")as the "teenager".
It's hard to believe a girl that looks like Alexandra would have difficulty seducing ANYBODY, and she would certainly be surrounded by both male admirers and female friends even in the most godforsaken part of France.
At any rate, I'm certainly not going to complain that THIS part wasn't played by an actual fourteen-year-old girl or a less physically attractive actress.
This film is rather difficult to review because it doesn't really have a plot to speak of, and it's clear that director Catherine Breillat was more keen on focusing on the art elements and detailing the sexual developments of a young girl than telling a story.
This is the first film I've seen from Catherine Breillat, but given what I've read about her; it would seem that she enjoys directing films that focus on sexuality, and that would seem to be the case if this film is anything to go by.
A Real Young Girl focuses on Alice Bonnard, a 'well developed' teenager who attends a boarding school and is spending the summer at her parents' house.
She becomes fixated on a man employed by her father, as well as a couple of other local men and her father, and the film basically follows her summer as things happen to her parents and she develops sexually.Unlike most exploitation films, this one takes place from the woman's point of view, although the idea that all men are sex-obsessed perverts certainly shines through, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Catherine Breillat is a devout feminist, as there isn't one single decent male character in the whole film.
I have to admit that I was expecting to be shocked going into the film, and while A Real Young Girl is liable to offend less well versed viewers; it would seem I've seen too much of this stuff as nothing in the film seemed too over the top to me.
Catherine Breillat clearly isn't afraid to shock the viewers, however, as the film features plenty of nudity and other perverse scenes.
The film features no suspense and the plot really just plods along, but it's well paced and while you know that the ending isn't going to provide much intrigue, it doesn't matter as anyone looking for a sexually charged film is likely to be satisfied..
"A Real Young Girl" is a slice-of-summer-life flick which follows a 17ish school girl's sexual exploration during a summer vacation with her parents on their farm.
A brave and visceral character study, this first outing for controversial auteur Catherine Breillat spends 90% of the run examining the fantasies, autoerotic experimentation, and eventual heterosexual encounters of the girl who seems sexually fascinated with all things liquid.
Though the film's darkish undercurrents of sexual aberration do portend better things to come from Breillat, it is not particularly interesting as a stand alone piece.
Not for those squeamish about graphic sexual content, this film should play best with those interested in psychosexual dramas (B-).
For me it was just hard to identify with the characters and all of her weird, sexual orientated, fantasies.It's a movie about a young 14 year old girl (played by an 21 year old by the way) who has obviously started to hit puberty and is about to discover her sexuality.
It means that the movie features plenty of full frontal female and male nudity but also some really disgusting scenes, as the little girl is really having some dirty thoughts and fantasies.
It's merely a look into the thoughts and fantasies of a girl who is about to discover her sexual identity for the first time.
It takes a woman to be able to get into a young girls mind and translate and brings to the screen all of the thoughts and feelings she might be having at that certain period in her life.
A Real Young Girl (1976) *** (out of 4) Fourteen year old Alice (Charlotte Alexandra) is on summer vacation when she starts to experiment with her sexuality.
This was made in 1975 but the producer's were so shocked that they kept it on the shelf until 2001, after director Catherine Breillat's Fat Girl became such a hit.
I enjoyed Fat Girl a lot more but this film here was pretty good, although the strong sexual content and nudity will certainly make most shy away from it.
It is believed by a vast majority of people that French are sexist people.There is no doubt about it.According to a recent survey conducted in France,a simple gesture of a mother breast feeding her child in public is considered an objectionable act by a vast majority French people.In 2006,film critic Lalit Rao got a chance of seeing this film during a film festival entitled "Est-Ce Ainsi Que Les Hommes Vivent?" at Saint Denis,France.He spoke to Ms.Breillat and Mr.Wakamatsu Koji regarding their extremely simple films which have always been considered difficult due to unknown reasons.So in France if one is so touchy about an honorable human activity of a mother offering milk to her baby where there are beauty and innocence associated,one can well imagine the reactions of French society to a woman film director of Catherine Breillat's stature whose films about issues related to feminine sexuality have always had an extremely provocative stance.This is one of the probable reasons why "Une Vraie Jeune Fille" was banned upon its initial release in 1975.This film is astonishing as this first film gave Catherine Breillat a once in a lifetime chance to make out of the ordinary films about themes and topics which were always considered as male domain..
After watching this film, you only find that France of the seventies has no level and desire but unrestrained, and the direction of it follows a kind of action from pure ignorance along with the struggle for having sex without purpose.
The film actually does not have the story, and only makes the audience fantasy instead of thinking.
Watched the film with Charlotte Alexandra in the main role "The Real Young Girl" (1976), liked her even more, than in "Immoral stories" (1974) - here she displays very sensual, wholehearted, heartfelt and indigenous heroine!
if you're going to make a bad film and call it 'psychosexual', you could at least put some good sex scenes in it.
A Film like 'A Real Young Girl' is Hard to Understand.
'A Real Young Girl' tells the story of a 14-year-old girl's sexual awakening.
Charlotte Alexandra does a good job as a 14-year old horny little girl.
At home on a school vacation, the heroine Alice, played by Charlotte Alexandra, is placed in situations where her beauty and her awakenings to life (constantly visualized in her raised dress and loosed panties) become hideous in normal context, e.g. the scene on the beach with the dog and garbage.
But then Breillat is trying to express the girl's beauty in her pent up sexuality and in her boredom which she can't escape and neither can we.
NEVER.Granted, the girl is beautiful, and her acting wasn't bad, but the whole film just didn't feel right.
Well, as I was browsing the TV guide for something to watch, I found it was playing tonight on some Quebec french specialized channel.I am just a guy, so I can't tell if that's really how teenage girls learn about their sexuality, but from the perspective of an adult male viewer, it's...
unattractive.It's a weird, slow pace movie, way different from what I have ever seen before, and probably different than any other possible movie.Worth seeing, if you don't mind viewing genitals, both female and male.Do not watch if you expect action, or if you expect a porno.
Catherine Breillat's first film, is in retrospect, a trip into what will be familiar territory (it reminded me of Fat Girl in mood look and plot).
Its a dark and disturbing film that doesn't seem to be about anything other than showing that little girls are not just sweet and light; and disturbing the audience in such away that its not really disturbing because you know she's going for effect and little more (I understand its to get us to think, but must it always be about the same thing?).
If the sexual awakening of a teenage girl wasn't already a heavily-subversive, abstract concept, then Catherine Breillat's A Real Young Girl can be viewed as one of the damnedest depictions of one of the most damning subjects in cinema history.
Catherine Breillat's, who later became renowned her focus on the sexuality of a teenage girl, first film can be viewed as an unabashed masterpiece or a choppy piece of transgressive cinema depending on how you view it.
The film possesses some very strong sequences, features a lead actress who is given so much to do and yet so little, and its approach is only odder and more convoluted the more you watch it.There's a certain mysticism to A Real Young Girl, thanks to the way it approaches its subject which has been identified by some online reviewers as "surrealism." If I employ the term "surrealism," I stutter when trying to define what I mean.
According to my own personal definition, A Real Young Girl fits right in under surrealist cinema, concerning Alice Bonnard (Charlotte Alexandra), a fourteen-year-old girl who returns home from a boarding school in France on summer break.
Certain flashbacks even involve her masturbating in her younger years, with one scene in particular showing her utilizing a spoon for aid in masturbation.Breillat is absolutely fearless here, constructing several fantasies in order to achieve a combination of shock and insight into the psyche of a teenage girl.
Consider her later film Fat Girl and how its graphic, tragic ending could be interpreted in several different ways.Now imagine that as the entire basis for A Real Young Girl; a film where every scene can be interpreted a handful of different ways.
The only thing I can think of is that this film is a showcase for the sexual awakening of a teenage girl in in explicit and heavily graphic form, but Breillat didn't go through all this trouble to make a simple showcase.
It could honestly be said that with "Une vraie jeune fille" Breillat makes Jon Waters look like Nora Ephron.But the movie's actual point seems to be to explore, with an adolescent aptly named Alice, the advent of a young girl's sexuality on a boring family summer vacation to an arid farm.
With no real men interested in her sexually (aside from, it is implied, her father, and a lecherous man his age she meets while at the fair), she turns to her own body for entertainment, inventing bizarre autoerotic games for herself, such as walking home with her underwear around her ankles or placing it on rotting dog carcasses.
It is an unflinching look at a young girl's exploration of the female body - her own - mindless of the regard of the other.That said, having first stumbled upon "Une vraie jeune fille" on the "arte" channel the other night in my Paris hotel room, the shock of the images took over any thought processes I was having as to why these visuals were even present and what they represented.
This is her directorial debut, and we see many topics that will crop up often in her later films - boarding schools (Bilitis), young underage girls on summer holiday wanting to lose their virginity (A ma soeur), underage sex in general (A ma soeur, 36 fillette) anally inserted objects (Anatomie de l'enfer)...I am a fan of Breillat's work, because she is groundbreaking.
Hats off to Breillat, surely one of the greatest living directors of films not in the English language at this moment in time.
This film goes on to show once again that adolescence is hell, that sex is not all it's cracked out to be, that the French countryside is full of mean, narrow-minded people, and parents don't understand.
I have yet to be real impressed with any of Catherine Breillat's works that I've seen at this point.
The weird thing is - I don't really "hate" any of the three or four films of hers that I've seen - I just can't find much about any of them that I think is all that exceptional either - and A REAL YOUNG GIRL is no exception, and honestly - this one is about the dullest of the bunch.Alice is a pre-18-year-old that is spending her summer at her family's home on break from the boarding school that she attends.
Though Breillat has always seemed to be a bit of a "shock artist" - she presents things in such a matter-of-fact (and often boring) manner, that the only ones who will be truly "shocked" by the material portrayed are prudes who will never watch her films in the first place.
I understand that probably isn't the director's intention in the first place, but I personally prefer to have some "sexuality" with my sex.
To sum up - A REAL YOUNG GIRL is a semi-graphic tale of a girl trying to understand and control her own sexuality - and though effective in some ways, it fails on the level that I would think should be most important in this type of film: to gain some sort of insight or understanding of this girl's confusion and angst.