A Real Young Girl
Encyclopedia
A Real Young Girl is a 1976 French drama about a 14-year-old girl's sexual awakening, written and directed by Catherine Breillat
. The film, Breillat's first, was based on her fourth novel, Le Soupirail.
This film is notable for its graphic depiction of sexuality, which includes Charlotte Alexandra
exposing her vulva
. This led to it being banned in many countries. It was not released to theaters until 2000.
Breillat's films and novels are often about the "erotic and emotional lives of young women, as told from the woman's perspective," typically using "blunt language and open depiction of sexual subject matter." Many of Breillat's films and novels, including A Real Young Girl have led to controversy and hostile press coverage. For example, Breillat's film 36 Fillette
, about the "burgeoning sexuality of a 14-year-old girl, and a middle-aged man intent on seducing her" led to "storms of controversy."
), a 14-year old girl attending a boarding school in France, comes home for the summer. 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
), who Alice immediately becomes infatuated with. Alice has a graphic sexual fantasy in which Jim has tied her to the ground with barbed wire, and is trying 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
.
She begins dating halfway through the summer. She is taken to a carnival by a middle-aged man, who exposes himself to her on a ride. She then arrives home and sees 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 in the garden to keep out intruders.
Reviewer Lisa Alspector from the Chicago Reader called the film’s “theories about sexuality and trauma ... more nuanced and intuitive than those of most schools of psychology," and noted the film's use of a blend of dream sequence
s with realistic scenes.
John Petrakis from the Chicago Tribune noted that Breillat “has long been fascinated with the idea that women are not allowed to go through puberty in private but instead seem to be on display for all to watch, a situation that has no parallel with boys.” Petrakis points out that Breillat’s film “seems acutely aware of this paradox.” Dana Stevens from The New York Times called the film “crude, unpolished, yet curiously dreamy.” Maitland McDonagh from TV Guide also commented on the film’s curious nature in her review: “neither cheerfully naughty nor suffused with gauzy prurience, [the film] evokes a time of turbulent (and often ugly) emotions with disquieting intensity.” Other reviewers, such as The Christian Science Monitor’s David Sterritt, view the film as a waypoint in the director’s early development toward becoming “a world-class filmmaker.”
Several reviewers have commented on the film’s frank treatment of unusual sexual fantasies and images. Filmcritic.com’s Christopher Null pointed out that the film was “widely banned for its hefty pornographic content,” and called it one of Breillat’s “most notorious” films. Null says “viewers should be warned” about the film’s “graphic shots” of “sexual awakening ... (and) sensory disturbances”, such as the female lead vomiting all over herself and playing with her ear wax. While Null rates this “low-budget work ... about a 3 out of 10 on the professionalism scale” and admits that “it barely makes a lick of sense,” he concedes that “there's something oddly compelling and poetic about the movie.” The Village Voice’s J. Hoberman called the film a “philosophical gross-out comedy rudely presented from the perspective of a sullen, sexually curious 14-year-old.” The New York Post’s Jonathan Foreman called the film a “test of endurance, and not just because you need a rather stronger word than "explicit" to describe this long-unreleased, self-consciously provocative film.”
Catherine Breillat
Catherine Breillat is a French filmmaker, novelist and Professor of Auteur Cinema at the European Graduate School.-Life and career:Breillat was born in Bressuire, Deux-Sèvres, but grew up in Niort...
. The film, Breillat's first, was based on her fourth novel, Le Soupirail.
This film is notable for its graphic depiction of sexuality, which includes Charlotte Alexandra
Charlotte Alexandra
Charlotte Alexandra is an English film actress born in 1955. She is best known for her appearance in several controversial, sexually-explicit feature films in the mid- to late-1970s....
exposing her vulva
Vulva
The vulva consists of the external genital organs of the female mammal. This article deals with the vulva of the human being, although the structures are similar for other mammals....
. This led to it being banned in many countries. It was not released to theaters until 2000.
Breillat's films and novels are often about the "erotic and emotional lives of young women, as told from the woman's perspective," typically using "blunt language and open depiction of sexual subject matter." Many of Breillat's films and novels, including A Real Young Girl have led to controversy and hostile press coverage. For example, Breillat's film 36 Fillette
36 Fillette
36 Fillette is a 1988 French film starring Delphine Zentout and Oliver Parniere, directed by Catherine Breillat. It is the story of a sexually-curious and rebellious 14-year-old who has an emotionally-charged and dually-manipulative relationship with an older man.-Plot:Lili, a pouty and voluptuous...
, about the "burgeoning sexuality of a 14-year-old girl, and a middle-aged man intent on seducing her" led to "storms of controversy."
Plot
Alice Bonnard (Charlotte AlexandraCharlotte Alexandra
Charlotte Alexandra is an English film actress born in 1955. She is best known for her appearance in several controversial, sexually-explicit feature films in the mid- to late-1970s....
), a 14-year old girl attending a boarding school in France, comes home for the summer. 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
Hiram Keller
Hiram Keller , born Hiram Keller Undercofler Jnr., was an American stage and film actor who appeared starred in European films. He is best known for his role as Ascyltus in Federico Fellini's 1969 film Satyricon....
), who Alice immediately becomes infatuated with. Alice has a graphic sexual fantasy in which Jim has tied her to the ground with barbed wire, and is trying to insert an earthworm into her vagina
Vagina
The vagina is a fibromuscular tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles. Female insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the...
. When the earthworm will not fit, Jim tears it into small pieces and puts them in Alice's pubic hair
Pubic hair
Pubic hair is hair in the frontal genital area, the crotch, and sometimes at the top of the inside of the legs; these areas form the pubic region....
.
She begins dating halfway through the summer. She is taken to a carnival by a middle-aged man, who exposes himself to her on a ride. She then arrives home and sees her father's penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
. 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 in the garden to keep out intruders.
Critical response
Critic Brian Price refers to A Real Young Girl a "transgressive look at the sexual awakening of an adolescent girl," an "awkward film" which "represents Breillat at her most Bataillesque, freely mingling abstract images of female genitalia, mud, and rodents into this otherwise realist account of a young girl's" coming of age. Price argues that the film's approach is in line with Linda Williams's defense of literary pornography, which Williams describes as an “elitist, avant-garde, intellectual, and philosophical pornography of imagination" versus the "mundane, crass materialism of a dominant mass culture.” Price argues that "there is no way ... to integrate this film into a commodity driven system of distribution," because it "does not offer visual pleasure, at least not one that comes without intellectual engagement, and more importantly, rigorous self-examination." As such, Breillat has insisted that "sex is the subject, not the object, of her work."Reviewer Lisa Alspector from the Chicago Reader called the film’s “theories about sexuality and trauma ... more nuanced and intuitive than those of most schools of psychology," and noted the film's use of a blend of dream sequence
Dream sequence
A dream sequence is a technique used in storytelling, particularly in television and film, to set apart a brief interlude from the main story. The interlude may consist of a flashback, a flashforward, a fantasy, a vision, a dream, or some other element. Commonly, dream sequences appear in many...
s with realistic scenes.
John Petrakis from the Chicago Tribune noted that Breillat “has long been fascinated with the idea that women are not allowed to go through puberty in private but instead seem to be on display for all to watch, a situation that has no parallel with boys.” Petrakis points out that Breillat’s film “seems acutely aware of this paradox.” Dana Stevens from The New York Times called the film “crude, unpolished, yet curiously dreamy.” Maitland McDonagh from TV Guide also commented on the film’s curious nature in her review: “neither cheerfully naughty nor suffused with gauzy prurience, [the film] evokes a time of turbulent (and often ugly) emotions with disquieting intensity.” Other reviewers, such as The Christian Science Monitor’s David Sterritt, view the film as a waypoint in the director’s early development toward becoming “a world-class filmmaker.”
Several reviewers have commented on the film’s frank treatment of unusual sexual fantasies and images. Filmcritic.com’s Christopher Null pointed out that the film was “widely banned for its hefty pornographic content,” and called it one of Breillat’s “most notorious” films. Null says “viewers should be warned” about the film’s “graphic shots” of “sexual awakening ... (and) sensory disturbances”, such as the female lead vomiting all over herself and playing with her ear wax. While Null rates this “low-budget work ... about a 3 out of 10 on the professionalism scale” and admits that “it barely makes a lick of sense,” he concedes that “there's something oddly compelling and poetic about the movie.” The Village Voice’s J. Hoberman called the film a “philosophical gross-out comedy rudely presented from the perspective of a sullen, sexually curious 14-year-old.” The New York Post’s Jonathan Foreman called the film a “test of endurance, and not just because you need a rather stronger word than "explicit" to describe this long-unreleased, self-consciously provocative film.”
Miscellaneous
This film has no closing credits; instead, an instrumental version of the song "Suis-je une petite fille (Am I a little girl)" plays over a black screen.See also
- 36 Fillette36 Fillette36 Fillette is a 1988 French film starring Delphine Zentout and Oliver Parniere, directed by Catherine Breillat. It is the story of a sexually-curious and rebellious 14-year-old who has an emotionally-charged and dually-manipulative relationship with an older man.-Plot:Lili, a pouty and voluptuous...
- Fat GirlFat GirlÀ ma sœur! is a 2001 French film directed by Catherine Breillat and starring Roxane Mesquida. It was released in some English speaking countries under the alternative titles For My Sister or Fat Girl....
- List of mainstream movies with unsimulated sexUnsimulated sex in filmUnsimulated sex in mainstream cinema was at one time restricted by law and self-imposed industry standards such as the Motion Picture Production Code. Films showing explicit sexual activity were confined to privately distributed underground films, such as stag films or "porn loops"...