À 14 ans (2015)
Directed by Hélène Zimmer

Film Review

For her debut feature, actress-turned director Hélène Zimmer draws on her own experiences to deliver a frank and brutal account of adolescence in which three feisty schoolgirls negotiate the first stage of the painful journey from childhood to adulthood.  À 14 ans (a.k.a. Being 14) is far from being the usual sentimental coming-of-age piece.  Its characters communicate mainly by spitting crude obscenities into each others' faces and the emotions depicted on screen are blisteringly raw and unadorned.  The film owes its biting realism partly to Zimmer's brave decision to employ a mix of professional and non-professional actors, although this is at times undermined by the director's fairly uninspired mise-en-scène and a script in which clichés are more abundant than character depth. The result is a film that is refreshingly direct but it lacks the charm and insight of similar brutally honest coming-of-age dramas such as Claude Miller's L'Effrontée (1985) and Delphine Coulin's 17 filles (2011).

Of the three leads, only Galatéa Bellugi has any prior acting experience (she previously appeared in Philippe de Pierpont's 2011 film Elle ne pleure pas, elle chante), so it is hardly surprising that hers is the more nuanced and credible performance, although her co-stars Athalia Routier and Najaa Bensaid show promise and bring a powerful emotional resonance to a few scenes.  All three actresses deserve credit for evoking so authentically the insecurities, euphoria, heartache and general confusion of those incredibly tough early teen years, although the film as a whole struggles to engage the audience because of its off-puttingly strident tone which implies that all teenagers are gobby, sex-mad rebels whose vocabulary is limited to a dozen or so high-strength swear words.  Sad to say, the film does at times feel that it was written by a fourteen year old, but it does leave a lasting impression.

Film Synopsis

Sarah, Jade and Louise are three friends who, at the not so tender age of 14, seem to be in too great a hurry to grow up - just like all girls of their age.  These three are now in their final year before going on to high school,  but they are far more interested in boys that in studying for their crucial end of year exams.  The upheavals of adolescence are not helped by the problems they have at home, and their habit of speaking their mind all of the time inevitably brings them into conflict with parents and teachers alike.  The girls fall out with each other when it is discovered that Jade has been sleeping with Reza, a boy that Sarah has taken a fancy to.  When Jade is given the cold shoulder by her supposed friends, her teenage upsets become even harder to bear...