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.
© James Travers 2004
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Next Diane Kurys film:
Coup de foudre (1983)
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...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.