Les Autres filles (2000) - film review

Solange is a 16 year old girl who lives with her parents in a village near to Toulouse.  She is training to be a hairdresser but is mainly preoccupied with losing her virginity.  She is fascinated by her friend Gary, an African girl who seems to be fully emancipated and who appears to offer her a prefect role model…

Having distinguished herself with two short films, director Caroline Vignal chose as the subject of her first full-length film the familiar coming-of-age drama.  Despite the banality of the scenario, Vignal succeeds in creating a work that is simultaneously engaging, realistic and provocative.  Her decision to use a combination of professional and non-professional actors pays off, giving the film an appropriate naturalistic edge.   In her sensitive portrayal of the film’s central character, Julie Leclercq reveals a talent which doubtless other serious film directors will be keen to make use of in future years.  Although the film isn’t faultless (some sequences feel painfully laboured and Solange’s rapport with her parents doesn’t quite feel real), it is a promising debut for its director.

© James Travers 2004

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