French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
coming of age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
. The film had its world premiere at the 2000
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019. It was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on 19 April 2002.
Plot
Gwen is a teenager living in a coastal town in Brittany; Lise is her city-living best friend. They meet up each summer as Lise's family visits. This year's visit is different though - Lise is dealing with her distant father's death, and Gwen has become promiscuous with boys, which threatens to affect the girls' friendship.
Cast
*
Isild Le Besco
Isild Le Besco (born 22 November 1982) is a French actress and filmmaker, who is of French and Algerian descent on her mother's side, and Vietnamese and Breton on her father's.
She has starred in many films, including '' Sade'' (2000), a Frenc ...
as Gwen
* Karen Alyx as Lise
*
Pascale Bussières
Pascale Bussières (born June 27, 1968) is a French Canadian actress. Her credits include ''Sonatine (1984 film), Sonatine'' (1984), ''Eldorado (1995 film), Eldorado'' (1995), ''When Night Is Falling'' (1995), ''August 32nd on Earth (Un 32 août s ...
as Céline
*
Pascal Elso
Pascal Elso is a French actor and director.
Career
Pascal Elso is an actor, comedian, director. He has taught acting at several cinema schools, and has also worked as a choreographer, clown, and mime artist.
Filmography Cinema
Televis ...
as Alain
*
Marie Rivière
Marie Rivière (; born 22 December 1956) is a French actress and filmmaker. She is known for her collaborations with director Éric Rohmer.
From a working-class background, Marie Rivière grew up on a housing estate/project in Montreuil before ...
as Anne-Marie
*
Yelda Reynaud
Yelda Reynaud (born Kaymakçı on 17 January 1972) is a Turkish-Austrian actress
An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the tr ...
as Solange
* Sandrine Blancke as Vivianne
* Julien Cottereau as Frédo
* Dominique Lacarrière as Rose
Reception
Stephen Holden of the
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
said "''Girls Can't Swim'' ultimately lacks the epic dimension of ''
Y Tu Mamá También
''Y tu mamá también'' (Spanish for ''And Your Mother Too'') is a 2001 Mexican Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age comedy drama Road movie, road film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who co-wrote the script with his brother Carlos Cuarón, Carlos. I ...
,'' but its vision of that awkward age when sex threatens to overwhelm everything else is acute enough to make everyone who has been there squirm with recognition."
Leslie Camhi of ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'' gave a positive review, writing “ irot’sfilm falters when it takes a final, violent turn into melodrama. Until then, though, she captures the deep currents of love and rivalry that make female teen friendships so important and so volatile.”
Jamie Russell of the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
reviewed the film positively, stating “Sexual politics aside, what makes Girls Can't Swim''' so involving is debut filmmaker Anne Sophie-Birot's nicely observed script, which treats its adolescent heroines with a wonderful amount of compassion.”
Paula Nechak of the ''
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States.
Th ...
'' said, “Birot delves into subtexts on the principles of transference: the
Oedipal
In classical psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex is a son's sexual attitude towards his mother and concomitant hostility toward his father, first formed during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. A daughter's attitude of desire f ...
attachments to their fathers that the girls renounce in order to gain other love objects. Her exploration of these psychological tenets in the context of modern teen behavior makes for darkly compelling and fresh viewing.”
On the other hand, Charles Taylor of ''
Salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon
A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...
'' gave a negative review, writing, “Everything about Girls Can't Swim'',’ even its passages of sensitive observation, feels secondhand, familiar—and not in a good way.”
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
gave the film two stars, saying "The phrase ‘coming of age,' when applied to movies, almost always implies sex, but ''Girls Can't Swim'' has nothing useful to say about sex (certainly not compared to
Catherine Breillat
Catherine Breillat (; born 13 July 1948) is a French filmmaker, novelist and professor of auteur cinema at the European Graduate School.
Life and career
Breillat was born in Bressuire, Deux-Sèvres, but grew up in Niort. She decided to becom ...
's brilliant '' Fat Girl'' from last year), and is too jerky in structure to inspire much empathy from us."
The film has a 71% approval based on 34 reviews on review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...