A Real Young Girl

Filmed in 1976 but not released until 2000, A REAL YOUNG GIRL is Catherine Breillat’s taboo-busting directorial debut and one of the boldest explorations of female sexuality ever committed to celluloid. In adapting her own novel, Breillat unflinchingly depicts the dark desires of Alice (Charlotte Alexandra), a rural adolescent whose uninhibited sexual experimentation troubles her parents (Rita Maiden and Bruno Balp) and augurs doom for her first lover (Hiram Keller). Originally withheld from theaters due to censorship concerns, GIRL proved itself to be not only ahead of its time but also an audacious trial run for Breillat’s core strategies and themes, including the connection between transgressive fantasy and sober reality.