''The Girl'' is a 2000 American/French romantic drama film directed by

Sande Zeig Sande Zeig is an American film director and writer. She was the partner of late French feminist writer Monique Wittig. She directed the 2000 romantic drama '' The Girl''. Biography Sande Zeig is from New York City and is of Jewish heritage. Sh ...

. It is a love story set in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

between "the Artist" (

Agathe De La Boulaye Agathe de La Boulaye is a French film and television actress. She played Adele Rousseau in 2004 science fiction film ''Alien vs. Predator''. In 2008 she played quadriplegic psychiatrist Claire Etxebarra in the television series '' Disparitions, ...

) and "the Girl" (

Claire Keim Claire Keim (born Claire Lefebvre 8 July 1975) is a French actress and singer. Biography Keim was born in Senlis, Oise to an architect father and a dentist mother. She is in a relationship with French footballer Bixente Lizarazu, and lives in S ...

), based on a story by Zeig's

partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...

Monique Wittig Monique Wittig (; July 13, 1935 – January 3, 2003) was a French author, philosopher and feminist theorist who wrote about abolition of the sex-class system and coined the phrase "heterosexual contract". Her seminal work is titled ''The Straigh ...

. It was negatively received by critics.

Plot

The film is narrated by

as "The Artist". She is obsessed with a

nightclub singer A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may ...

(

) whom she calls "The Girl". One night the girl takes the artist to the hotel where she lives and they make love. The girl, who does not usually sleep with women, tells the artist that it is "just one night" but they begin seeing each other. The girl continues to see men and the artist has a long term lover, Bu Savè (

Sandra Nkake Sandra or SANDRA may refer to: People * Sandra (given name) * Sandra (singer) (born 1962), German pop singer * Margaretha Sandra (1629–1674), Dutch soldier * Sandra (orangutan), who won the legal right to be defined as a "non-human person" Pla ...

), who accepts the artist's obsession. The artist draws and paints the girl, but gradually grows frustrated with her work. She notices a man ( Cyril Lecomte) watching her and the girl. The man behaves aggressively and possessively towards the girl. He starts following the artist and sends threatening letters to the girl telling her to get rid of the artist. The girl refuses. The man follows the artist and tries to attack her. The artist asks advice from Bu Savè, who gives her a gun. When the artist cannot find the girl, she discovers that she has gone away with the man, who turns out to be the owner of the nightclub where the girl sings. When the man and the girl return, the artist gives the girl the gun. The artist gets beaten up by the man and his friend. Later when she goes to meet the girl at the hotel, she finds the man there, naked and asleep. She leaves. The next day she returns and tells the girl that she is leaving her. The artist puts all her energy into her painting. One day she goes back to the hotel. As she climbs the stairs, she hears gunshots. She finds the man dead and the girl with a gunshot wound to her side.

Cast

as The Girl, a nightclub jazz singer. The narrator calls her "

Agnus Dei is the Latin name under which the " Lamb of God" is honoured within the Catholic Mass and other Christian liturgies descending from the Latin liturgical tradition. It is the name given to a specific prayer that occurs in these liturgies, and ...

". *

as The Narrator, and artist. The girl calls her "Lover". * Cyril Lecomte as The Man, owner of the nightclub where the girl sings. He has a past with the girl and tries to stop her seeing the narrator. *

as Bu Savè, the narrator's long-term lover. *

Ronald Guttman Ronald Guttman (born 12 August 1952) is a Belgian actor, theatrical producer and film producer. Career Guttman was born in Uccle. He started appearing in French language productions in Europe in 1975, appearing in his first English-language film ...

as Bartender *

Cyrille Hertel Cyrille is both a French masculine given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name * Cyrille Adoula (1921–1978), Congolese politician who served as Premier of the Republic of the Congo (1961–1 ...

as Bodyguard *

Pascal Cervo Pascal Cervo (born 16 July 1977) is a French film director, screenwriter and actor. Life and career Pascal Cervo grew up in Soisy-sur-Seine, Essonne, France. He was discovered at the age of 16 while shopping in Paris by Catherine Corsini for h ...

as Hotel Clerk *

Franck Prévost Franck can refer to: People * Franck (name) Other * Franck (company), Croatian coffee and snacks company * Franck (crater), Lunar crater named after James Franck See also * Franc (disambiguation) * Franks * Frank (disambiguation) * Frankie ...

as Piano Player * Hélène Juren as Art School Model

Production

''The Girl'' was based on a short story of the same name by Zeig's

French writer and theorist

. It was Wittig's first English language story. The screenplay was written by Wittig and Zeig. Zeig, an American, said of her decision to shoot the film in France, "I don't feel like an American independent filmmaker. I'm just not inspired to shoot in America with American stories."

Ratings and distribution

''The Girl'' was unrated in the United States. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

it was rated 15 and in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

it was rated 12. It premiered on September 9, 2000 at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

. It went on to appear in 2001 at the

Turin International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

and the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

. It was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on April 20, 2001, distributed by Zeig's company

Artistic License Artistic license (alongside more contextually-specific derivative terms such as poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It can include the alterat ...

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gave ''The Girl'' a "rotten" rating of 13% based on 30 reviews.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave it a "generally negative" rating of 34% based on 14 reviews.

References

External links

Official site
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Girl 2000 films English-language French films 2000s French-language films 2000 romantic drama films American LGBT-related films American mystery films American romantic drama films Films based on short fiction French romantic drama films French LGBT-related films American independent films Lesbian-related films French independent films 2000s American films 2000s French films ru:Эта девушка