Fat Girl [WS] [Criterion Collection]

Director: Catherine Breillat Catherine Breillat

Overview

"Director Catherine Breillat, who courted international controversy with her film Romance, once again pushed the envelope with this disturbing (if somewhat less explicit) look at adolescent sexuality. Anaïs (Anaïs Reboux) is a 12-year-old girl with a weight problem and a downbeat disposition growing up in a family which offers her little in the way of understanding and affection. Anaïs has a typically adolescent love/hate relationship with her slimmer and prettier 15-year-old sister, Elena (Roxane Mesquida); she's at once fascinated by her sister (and the boys who follow her around), and hates her for the love and attention she receives from others. While the family spends the summer at the beach, Elena attracts the attentions of Fernando (Libero de Rienzo), a college student from Italy who makes no secret of his attraction to Elena's budding sexuality. Anaïs, on the other hand, is forced to make do with a sad game in which she pretends that a ladder and a diving board at a neighborhood swimming pool are two suitors vying for her affections. Anaïs shares a room with Elena, and finds herself a fascinated, if troubled, witness as Fernando uses both charm and deceit to rob her sister of her virginity, while Elena is too naïve to see through the lies Fernando is spinning -- and enjoys having Anaïs as an audience for her steadily advancing sex play with Fernando. Anaïs is more aware than her older sister of Fernando's insincerity, but she finds Elena isn't eager to believe her."

Product Details

Release Date:	10/19/2004
UPC:	0037429197721
Original Release:	2001
Source:	CRITERION COLLECTION
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[stereo, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:26:00
Sales rank:	29,308

Special Features

New, restored high-definition digital transfer with Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 soundtracks; Behind the scenes footage; Two interviews with the director, including a look at the film's alternate ending; French and U.S. theatrical trailers; New and improved English subtitle translation; Plus: and essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau and an interview with Catherine Breillat from the French film magazine Positif

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Anais Reboux	Anais
Roxane Mesquida	Elena
Libero De Rienzo	Fernando
Arsinee Khanjian	Mother
Romain Goupil	Father
Laura Betti	Fernando's Mother
Albert Goldberg	The Killer
Odette Barriere	Friend at Residence,Actor
Ann Matthijsse	Friend at Residence
Pierre Renverseau	Friend at Residence
Jean-Marc Boulanger	Friend at Residence
Frederick Bodin	Waiter
Michel Guillemin	Janitor
Josette Cathalan	Saleswoman
Claude Sese	Police Officer
Marc Samuel	Inspector

Technical Credits

Catherine Breillat

Catherine Breillat	Director,Screenwriter
Jean-Francois Lepetit	Producer,Producer
Michael Weill	Casting
Jean Minondo	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

A downbeat tale about the tortures of adolescence, A Ma Soeur! goes well beyond most people's worst childhood experiences. Everybody in Anaïs' family dumps their problems on her, while constantly reminding her that she's a helpless, chubby girl who can't stop eating. The only halfway decent relationship that she has is with her sister, Elena, who has some affinity with her, even though Elena often degrades her, blames her for her own faults, and is forced to drag her around when she's hunting for men. Director Catherine Breillat expertly captures these awkward years in the dialogue between the two sisters, the sometimes uncomfortable sex scenes, and in Anaïs' anguished facial expressions. The sex scenes are lengthy, graphic, and portray underage sex, but this sort of stuff is becoming de rigueur for contemporary French cinema. All of the acting is excellent, from Libero de Rienzo's performance as the slimy, Italian college student who shows off to Elena about other girls he's used and then dumped, to Arsinee Khanjian, as the sisters' emotionally unstable, chain-smoking mom, to Anaïs Reboux's Anaïs, who seems to have no hope in this world. The ending of the film is certainly controversial with some critics lashing out against it. But undoubtedly this is French cinema at its most fearless, a film one thinks about, discusses, and does not forget.