36 fillette (1988)
Directed by Catherine Breillat

Film Review

Even before she made this film, director Catherine Breillat had acquired a reputation in her earlier novels and films for her frank and explicit portrayal of female sexuality.   Her previous film Tapage nocturne (1979) carried an 18 certificate and proved to be a commercial disaster.  (Breillat had made one feature before this, Une vraie jeune fille (1976), but this was not released until 1999 owing to the fact that the film's producer went bankrupt.) To make her next film, 36 fillette, she was first obliged to write a novel on which the screenplay could be based.  When the film was released, it was with predictable controversy, many critics lambasting it for its indecent portrayal of adolescent sexuality.

The film is certainly daring, eye-catching and a worthy effort, but it is not entirely satisfying.  Whilst Breillat's direction is creditable and technically the film is quite well made, it has difficulty engaging the audience and weak characterisation robs the film of conviction and meaning.  Part of the problem is that none of the lead characters is remotely sympathetic: Lili comes across as a confused and vicious brat, unsure what she wants, whilst Maurice resembles a rather empty, bland stereotype of an ageing playboy.

There is, however, one moment of magic, when Lili meets and starts to philosophise with suave concert pianist (played amusingly by Jean-Pierre Léaud, who was himself something of a juvenile delinquent in his early teen years and is famous for playing one on screen in François Truffaut's Les Quatre cents coups (1959)).  Unfortunately, this scene is all too brief and it serves merely to show how lacking in substance and charm the rest of the film is.

Film Synopsis

Whilst on a camping holiday in Biarritz with her family, a 14 year old girl named Lili becomes obsessed with losing her virginity.  She meets a middle-aged playboy, Maurice, and alternately flaunts with him and taunts him.  Although he is strongly attracted towards her, Lili is disgusted at the idea of losing her virginity to such an old man, but she cannot stand being a virgin and must yield to the inevitable...