Advertisement

Movies & TV Movies & TV Reviews

Girlhood

GIRLHOOD (Céline Sciamma). 113 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (February 27). Rating: NNNN

Where to watch: iTunes


French director Céline Sciamma loves to keep adults out of the picture. Her film Tomboy (bad title) follows a middle-school transgender boy and his peers’ reactions to him in ways that show Sciamma’s understanding of kids’ mindsets.

The grown-ups are also almost entirely absent in her follow-up, Girlhood. In a suburban Parisian housing project, 16-year-old Marieme, aka Vic (the charismatic Karidja Touré), tries to find an identity of her own.

She’s so busy taking care of her younger sister and staying out of the way of her abusive brother (Cyril Mendy) while her mother works nights cleaning hotel toilets that her grades have tanked and she’s been kicked out of the academic stream.

The absence of options for poor black kids is one of Sciamma’s themes. When Vic falls in with a gang of girls led by Lady (Assa Sylla, terrific), she gains some self-esteem, but gang life doesn’t exactly improve her choices.

Finding a boyfriend doesn’t help Vic either – he just wants the kind of traditional relationship Vic scorns. Soon she’s taking up with heavyweight hoodlums.

Sciamma taps her compassion for young people in spectacular moments: girls engaged in animated conversation while walking home go silent when they pass a group of guys. In one superb scene, Vic’s gang, clad in dresses they just shoplifted, dance and lip-synch to Rihanna’s Diamonds while partying in a hotel room.

The opening high-energy sequence features Vic and school pals playing football, and it’s slightly problematic. Evidence of Vic’s personal connections weakens the case for her profound alienation.

But this is a small complaint about a film from a director with a lot of style and even more to say.

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted