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A Real Young Girl (18*)

After the Wave: Young French Cinema in the 1970s

,Barbican Cinema 3
Shot of two people at the dinner table

This debut feature by Catherine Breillat rips apart conventional images of adolescent girlhood, showing us instead a real young girl.

Stuck at home over the summer holidays, 14-year-old Alice conceives a breathless passion for a hunky workman at her dad’s sawmill. It’s the 60s, and demure Françoise Hardy-style ye-ye singers are all the rage; our heroine, though, is decidedly less pure, less submissive, altogether less… wholesome.

One of only a small clutch of films to show teenage female sexuality from the inside, its frankness about bodies, bodily fluids and sexual fantasies is intended to disrupt voyeuristic pleasure and desecrate Lolita-like fantasies. Tonally it’s a singularly odd concoction: explicit, dreamy, sometimes very funny, slipping constantly between fantasy and reality.

Tagged with: Cinema F-rated After the Wave

France 1976 Dir Catherine Breillat 93 min 35mm presentation

* Locally classified by the City of London Corporation

Barbican Cinema 3

Location
Barbican Cinema 2 & 3 are located on Beech Street, a short walk from the Barbican’s Silk Street entrance. From Silk Street, you’ll see a zebra crossing that will take you across the road to the venue. 

Address
Beech Street
London
EC2Y 8DS

Public transport
The Barbican is widely accessible by bus, tube, train and by foot or bicycle. Plan your journey and find more route information in ‘Your Visit’ or book your car parking space in advance.

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