La Première fois que j’ai eu 20 ans (2004) - film review

In 1960s France, 16-year-old Hannah Goldman is experiencing a painful adolescence.   Her Jewish background and plain appearance make her an object of ridicule, but she has a talent for music and is determined to fulfil her ambition to play in the school jazz band.  When she wins a competition to join the band, her fellow band members – all boys of her own age – are disappointed and do everything they can do discourage her...

Lorraine Levy makes an exemplary directorial debut with this charming and at times highly poignant portrait of a troubled adolescence, based on a popular novel by Susie Morgenstern.  Levy ’s assured and stylish direction is surpassed only by a faultless performance from her lead actress, Marilou Berry, who, judging by this film, has a talent (and a future career) at least as great as that of her famous mother, the actress Josiane Balasko. 

Marilou Berry may not be a conventional beauty but her charisma and the sincerity she brings to her performance more than make up for that.  In her most convincing role to date, she perfectly conveys the stubborn rebellious character and inner torment of a teenage girl who is desperate to be loved and appreciated in a world that sets far too much store by conventions and outward appearances.  

Levy’s screenplay and direction are of an exceptional calibre, certainly for a first film, and skilfully evoke not just the period the film is set in but also the somewhat brutal male-oriented world as experienced by its sensitive heroine.  This is an engaging and memorable film which tackles some important themes – sexual awakening, coping with rejection, learning to take life as it comes – with insight, depth and a pleasing lightness of touch – and some toe-tapping music that will bring out the jazz enthusiast in anyone.

© James Travers 2008

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