La Désenchantée (1990) - film review

Beth is a 17 year old girl who lives with her sick mother, Thérèse, a former prostitute, and her younger brother.  Their only income is from one of Thérèse’s former clients, whom she calls “Uncle”, and who offers to reward Beth if she chooses to follow her mother’s example.  Beth will have nothing to do with this, and instead tries to look for the perfect boyfriend, quickly becoming disillusioned with what she finds…

This early film from Benoît Jacquot (now a highly rated French film director) is a melancholic essay in teenage angst.  Like many of Jacquot’s films, it is centred around one character, an insecure and unloved young woman, Beth, who is trapped in a life which has little to offer her.

Although the film is very attractively shot, it feels a little insubstantial and ambiguous.  The film ends without offering any real suggestion where Beth’s future lies, and you are left with the impression that nothing definite has been said.  In contrast to Jacquot’s latter films (for example, the similarly framed La fille seule), the audience is not able to form any attachment with the film’s main character, mainly because she reveals so little.

© James Travers 2000

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