36 fillette (1988)

A night in the life of a young woman who wishes to learn and experience more of life. The men she meets have as much to learn from her as they can offer her, or more.

Director:

Catherine Breillat

Writers:

Catherine Breillat (scenario), Catherine Breillat (novel)

Stars:

Delphine Zentout, Etienne Chicot, Olivier Parnière

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Delphine Zentout	...	Lili
Etienne Chicot	...	Maurice
Olivier Parnière	...	Bertrand
Jean-Pierre Léaud	...	Boris Golovine
Berta Domínguez D.	...	Anne-Marie
Jean-François Stévenin	...	Le père
Diane Bellego	...	Georgia
Adrienne Bonnet	...	La mère
Stéphane Moquet	...	Ca-Pe
Cécile Henry	...	Maetitia
Michel Scotto di Carlo	...	Stéphane
Anny Chasson	...	Mme Weber
Jean-Claude Binoc	...	M. Weber
Christian Lafitte	...	Le conducteur
Christian Andia	...	Portier 'Opium'

Storyline

Lili, a pouty and voluptuous 14-year-old, is caravan camping with her family in Biarritz. She's self-aware and holds her own in a café conversation with a concert pianist she meets, but she has a wild streak and she's testing her powers over men, finding that she doesn't always control her moods or actions, and she's impatient with being a virgin. She sets off with her brother to a disco, latching onto an aging playboy who is himself hot and cold to her. She is ambivalent about losing her virginity that night, willing the next, and determined by the third. The playboy's mix of depression and misogyny ends their unconsummated affair, so Lili has to hunt elsewhere.

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Plot Keywords:

virgin | 14 year old | teenage girl | sex | seduction | 

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Genres:

Romance | Drama

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

6 January 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

36 fillette

Box Office

Gross USA:

$410,109

Company Credits

Production Co:

CB Films, French Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Joey Breaker (1993)

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Soundtracks

Moon Dreams
Performed by Miles Davis
Written by Chummy MacGregor and Johnny Mercer
Edition CHAPPELL
Diques PATHE MARCONI-EMI

User Reviews

Transcends the American brat style

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon.)

This is a love story off the beaten track clearly in the tradition of Louis Malle and Francois Truffaut, told without prudishness or gratuitous violence.

The title refers to a children's dress size that the 14-year-old lead, Lili, played with snap by Delphine Zentout, is bursting out of. Billed as a "French Lolita," Zentout is not all that fetching at first glance. She's a chubbette with light skin and thick black hair and not exactly pretty. But she has intriguing eyes and a saucy way about her.

Lili is "discovering" her sexuality, but won't let herself be impregnated. The playboy, played with grace and economy by Jean-Pierre Leaud, falls in love with her in spite of himself and "tolerates" her reluctance while being partially satisfied in other ways, one of which we used to call a "cold f..." They are a believable match because sexually they are equal: she precocious, he experienced.

Catherine Beillat directs without sentimentality while guiding Zentout to an interpretation that transcends the American brat style and leads us to a thoughtful view of feminine sexuality.