Reel Women: Girlhood

presents the fanzine for REEL WOMEN, a monthly film night dedicated to the work of female filmmakers.

“I wanted to make a movie about friendship, about a group, about sorority, about anger …”

- Céline Sciamma

SPECIAL SCREENING IN COLLABORATION WITH TRINITY FEMINISM SOCIETY:

FREE ENTRY

GIRLHOOD (Bande de filles, Gang of Girls) is a 2014 French drama film directed by Céline Sciamma, starring Karidja Touré. This coming-of-age story focuses on the life of Marieme (Karidja Touré), a girl who lives in a rough neighbourhood right outside of Paris. The film discusses and challenges conceptions of race, gender and class; Sciamma's goal was to capture the stories of black teenagers, characters she claims are generally underdeveloped in French films. In 2014 it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival Toronto International Film Festival.It received four César nominations, including Best Director for Céline Sciamma and Most Promising Actress for Karidja Touré.

SALLY JANE BLACK REVIEWS “GIRLHOOD” "It's not my fault." "… Whose fault is it?"

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es, faceless teacher, it was your fault. She taunts and sneers and then expects Marieme to answer her when there's some suggestion of something more, deeper here, but of course, she's become untrustworthy, another authority figure who is there to hurt and punish, not to nurture or protect.

In a not-really-bygone era, from this moment, Marieme would then walk into the arms of bad influences, but in this slice of European harsh reality, akin to Moodysson and Breillat in some ways, she's already under bad influences. The girl gang she joins is the most nurturing, protective, and caring force in her life, and not in an ironic way.

This film is framed beautifully, so many moments of the city being used to make the four girls into a perfect picture, creating a sense of closeness even as they traverse vast concrete deserts. It focuses in on their bodies not in moments of exploitative prurience but in moments of movement and connection, showing dance moves, tender gestures, and faces in closeup. Every shot is composed, showing (or in some excellent moments, not showing) characters often in still moments, letting the viewer absorb details like the shimmering of a zipper or the absence of hair, in some cases showing plot/character and in some cases, simply letting the image speak for itself. And yet, there's a chill to the visuals, even in tender moments, and saturations that distort rather than emphasize, and these factors rob some of the more beautiful images of their power.

The portrayal of friendship in this is so moving (especially as its progress is tracked through song and dance in a natural, non-Musical way) that the eventual dissociation of the plot from that part of the story is jarring and disappointing, even if slightly inevitable, as the escape provided by Marieme's journey into camaraderie is derailed by the blood family that has failed her. What follows is essentially a brutal coming -of-age, but one informed by the strength found in her time with Lady, Fily, and Adiatou.

#TAKEONERECOMMENDS ALSO BY CÉLINE SCIAMMA: TOMBOY (2011)

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ciamma describes the simple initial idea for her film TOMBOY as ‘a little girl pretends to be a little boy’. It sounds like a great premise for a short film, but all the emotional complexities and sweet humour in such a situation in fact sustain a beautiful feature film.

Sciamma wrote as well as directed the film, and her strong screenplay is complemented by the child actors’ improvisation. Zoé Héran is perfectly cast as the tomboy protagonist, with a prepubescent androgyny that makes the charade completely convincing to both the other characters and the audience. Malonn Lévana was also a great find as her little sister, adding much of the humour that makes TOMBOY such a sweet film. There are many memorable scenes, particularly between these sisters, which often simply depict everyday activities and games of children, but they are improvised and shot to create tender moments.

The style of compassionate observation is reminiscent of Treeless Mountain (So Yong Kim, 2008), another quiet sensory portrait of two young sisters’ relationship. TOMBOY pulls you into a child’s world, so you can even almost smell the bubblegum that the kids are chewing in a game of truth or dare. But the film captures experiences not unique to childhood, like awkwardness in budding relationships, or anxiety created by a lie that’s got out of hand. With the writing and production of the film completed in just three months on a low budget, this is a particularly impressive achievement.

“It’s not based on a true story, it’s not my story,” Sciamma told us. “But when you’re writing about childhood you have to look back in your memories to get back that feeling, how it felt. Not in a nostalgic way, but really in the present. The movie is really impressionist about childhood, trying to get back those sensations and those feelings. And I was kind of a tomboy… I was mistaken for a boy sometimes and I remember that sometimes I liked it. I remember the freedom that gave me. So I had that story in mind of a little girl pretending to be a little boy. And I decided that would be my film because I felt there was a good balance… I’m always looking for the right balance of a cool subject with an intimate insight, and also with a strong storytelling. I kind of built it like a thriller, like an insider movie. And so there was those two things that convinced me to go for it. We invent ourselves everyday when we are children. So that’s a way for the movie to be really open, for everybody to connect.”

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