À nos amours (1983)
Directed by Maurice Pialat

Film Review

This is a profoundly perceptive and believable film about a young girl's troubled journey into womanhood, in a crumbling and unsupportive family environment.  Sandrine Bonnaire is quite simply stunning as the emotionally confused Suzanne.  The quality of her performance, coupled with Paialat's apparently improvised style of film making, gives the film a sharp-edged, documentary feel, which heightens the emotional impact and drama.

Pialat's style is a little unsettling to those who are not familiar with his work, bearing more than a passing resemblance to the fresh, unpolished style of the French New Wave directors of the early 1960s.  To some extent, the film lacks structure and a coherent narrative, and appears to grind to a halt on a few occasions.    However, the Pialat shows a genuine flair for capturing the raw emotions and revealing the distress in an adolescent's confused mind.  For this approach to work at all, he is very reliant on some great acting talent.  In Sandrine Bonnaire, the director has just that, and Pialat and Bonnaire form a very successful combination, emphasised by Pialat's portrayal of Suzanne's father.

Film Synopsis

Suzanne is a free-spirited 15-year-old who, along with her best friend Anne, is having a hard time coping with the upheavals of early adolescence.   Whilst holidaying on the French Riviera, she attracts a good-looking youth named Luc, but even though he is to her liking she is wary of getting into a relationship and so opts for a casual liaison with with an American she meets on the beach.  Back home in Paris, Suzanne continues going out with boys, much to the concern of her prim, over-protective parents.  She is taken by surprise when, without any warning, her father suddenly turns his back on his wife and children, leaving Suzanne's brother Robert to fill his father's shoes as best he can.

Suzanne still carries a torch for Luc, but she still prefers meaningless relationships with other boys to avoid the commitments of love.  It comes as a shock to her when Luc finally gives up on her and switches his attention to Anne.  On the rebound from this disappointment, Suzanne hastily embarks on what looks like a serious love affair with an older man, Jean-Pierre and is soon contemplating marriage.  It isn't long before her yearning for freedom asserts itself once again and she has made up her mind to head off for California, just when her father makes an unexpected return...