Film Review
Were it not for the contributions from its three adolescent leads (all promising young
actresses), this awkward mix of social drama, thriller and teenage road movie would be
a pretty vacuous affair that wouldn't merit even a cursory viewing.
The film's opening sequences do manage to convey the sense of teenage ennui and vulnerability pretty well,
although it's hard to overlook some of racial stereotyping. Not a bad start, but
unfortunately all this is pretty much undermined by what follows.
Having the three leading characters (supposedly) kill an old woman is not the best
way of endearing them to a spectator, but it is their apparent sang froid and lack of
guilt which is really unsettling. Where's the sense of panic and anxiety you'd expect
to see in three typically neurotic teenage girls? No, off they go to Corsica as
if nothing much has happened. And it's at this point that the plot really comes
off the rails.
What happens next is that the three girls - who, in case it has
been forgotten, are running away from grown-ups - end up sharing a camp berth with a strange
middle-aged couple (that's strange in both senses of the word).
Gérard Jugnot certainly has his charms, but is he really the kind of person three
rebellious teenagers would willingly bed down with having turned their backs on their
families and civilisation? By the way, just before this happens, the three
girls had just turned down a lift from a younger man because they thought he was a potential
rapist.
After this bit of improbable inter-generation bonding, the film just feels
so steeped in artifice and false emotion that it ceases to have any credibility as a piece
of drama. Things improve a little at the very end of the film, when the three girls
are hunted down by the police, but even this seems heavy handed, overly sentimentalised
and not the least bit convincing.
Trois petites
filles was directed by Jean-Loup Hubert, whose best work is probably
Le Grand chemin (1987). The latter
is a far more satisfying film which treats the fragile relationship between adults and
children much more convincingly, and with far greater emotional impact.
© James Travers 2006
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Jean-Loup Hubert film:
L'Année prochaine... si tout va bien (1981)
Film Synopsis
Three teenage girls decide to run away from their homes in Paris. Their destination:
the island of Corsica, where they hope to encounter film star Johnny Depp. Pauline's
parents are separated, Lucie is bored with life, and Lilia is about to be shipped off
to Algeria for an arranged marriage. With nothing to lose, the three girls steal
a credit card from an old woman and take the first ferry to Corsica. There, they
are befriended by a strange middle aged couple, Paolo and Laetitia…
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.