Diabolo menthe (1977)
Directed by Diane Kurys

Film Review

Diabolo menthe marked an impressive debut for its writer-director Diane Kurys, a sensitive depiction of female adolescence that sets itself apart from other similar coming-of-age dramas by virtue of its seductive charm and sizzling authenticity.  Drawing on her own traumatic experiences as a young teenager in the mid-1960s, Kurys skilfully draws us into the world of two rebellious sisters who succumb to a painful process of physical and psychological change, a metamorphosis that allows them to forge an identity whilst being assailed by the pangs of nascent womanhood and the confusion of an increasingly chaotic adult world.

At a time when France is struggling to come to terms with the sudden death of two immense icons - Édith Piaf and President John F. Kennedy, two teenage girls are equally unsettled by the seismic impact of a burgeoning sexuality and the vertiginous ordeal of navigating the narrow pass between conformity and individuality.  Philippe Rousselot's beautiful cinematography not only serves to underscore the frenetic inner dramas of the contrasting lead characters; it is also richly evocative of the era in which the drama takes place, that heady period in the early-to-mid 1960s when the world really did seem to be balanced on the most perilous of knife-edges.

Kurys claims she made Diabolo menthe as an act of revenge against her mother and older sister.  She began writing the story as a novel in 1976, originally titled Histoire de petites filles, but, taking the advice of her close friend Alexandre Arcady, she adapted it into a screenplay and opted to direct the film herself with a more idiosyncratic title.  Kurys's own formative years were strongly affected by life-changing incident, none more so than the separation of her parents; it is therefore no great surprise that these provided ample material for several of her films, most notably her debut work and subsequent films Coup de foudre (1983) and La Baule-les-Pins (1990).  Diabolo menthe focuses mainly on Kurys's experiences at the ultra-strict lycée Jules-Ferry in Paris, which provided the real locations for much of the film.

Diabolo menthe met with not only critical acclaim on its first release in France in 1977; it also proved to be a notable box office hit, attracting an impressive audience of three million spectators.  The film received the prestigious Prix Louis-Delluc in 1977 and launched the career of a young director who rapidly garnered a reputation as one of France's leading auteur cineastes, earning an Oscar nomination with her third feature Coup de foudre.  Catching what the French call l'air du temps, the film's catchy theme song (also titled Diabolo menthe) sung by Yves Simon was released as a single and was an instant chart-topper.   

Kurys's intelligent screenplay, which is as crisply astute as it is warmly humane, is deftly interpreted by the film's two remarkable lead actresses, Eléonore Klarwein and Odile Michel; as the two teenagers representing Kurys and her own older sister, the latter convey the angst and turmoil that afflict their characters with a realism so stark and impactful that it almost stings to watch them as they make their way across that familiar mine-strewn landscape of adolescent upheaval.  Not since François Truffaut's Les 400 coups (1959) has a French film been able to capture the brutal transition from childhood to adolescence with such an effective interlacing of honesty and poetry.

Film Synopsis

September 1963 marks the beginning of an important phase in the lives of two teenage sisters, Anne and Frédérique Weber.  After spending an agreeable summer holiday with their father, they return to Paris to live with their mother and start a traumatic new term at high school.  Their Jewish parents have been divorced for some time and as a result both girls have acquired a wayward and rebellious nature, which their disciplinarian teachers struggle to correct.  Anne, 13, is less outgoing than her sister Frédérique, who is two years older but far more confident in her behaviour and outlook.  Anne's first experience with the opposite sex was during the preceding holiday and her thoughts continue to linger on the boy who has somehow left his mark on her soul.  Meanwhile, Frédérique is pursuing an actively lustful love affair with a boy of her own age, whilst nurturing an interest in leftwing politics.  As her older sister becomes increasingly involved with the issues of her day, Anne rebels in her own way, stealing, lying and falling ever further behind in her studies.  For both girls, the ensuing school year will be full of incident and heartbreak, one that will alter them forever...