Girlhood

MOVIE #1,444 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 03.15.24 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙲É𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙴 𝚂𝙲𝙸𝙰𝙼𝙼𝙰 (𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚑: [selin sjama];) 𝙳𝙸𝚁𝙴𝙲𝚃𝙾𝚁 𝙵𝙾𝙲𝚄𝚂 🇫🇷 I don't wanna fall into the trap of painting with a broad stroke in regards to Sciamma, either levying criticism for telling a story that clearly isn't her own or heaping praise for the simple fact that she was giving both Black actors an opportunity and shining a light on life experiences that don't get enough attention in cinema. But to the latter point: while they're aren't enough and the ones that are made often get overshadowed, there are Black filmmakers making movies and telling these stories. So, to me, a statement like this: “I'm not saying ‘I'm going to tell you what it's like being black in France today'; I just want to give a face to the French youth I'm looking at."

That feels disingenuous to a degree, a classic “cake/eating it too” situation. I have no idea what the young Black female experience is like, especially not in France. The intentions are clearly good here but it's impossible not to see or at least think you're watching this through a filter. We can't ignore these thoughts and so I don't think that we should. That feels equally dishonest.

Much of this — that something's just off — is more or less a gut feeling. I don't think Sciamma really knows these characters. Take Sean Baker (a white male) and his excellent film about trans minority sex workers, Tangerine, which came out the following year: a film I connected with immediately and really loved. Shot on an iPhone featuring big, boisterous characters, its portrayals might not have been any more ‘true’ but there was a rawness, both in its texture and utilization of untrained across, which transcended the background of the creator. It moves so fast (run-time is an issue, 88 minutes vs 113 here) you don't have time to think about that. While it's well shot and acted, Girlhood looks and feels like any number of movies, the subject matter aside. Tangerine, conversely, has style: it's ugly on purpose and that goes a long way. It feels unique and new while the only thing that feels like a bold choice in Girlhood is Sciamma's decision to tackle the story in the first place. (The decision to insert a subplot about the lead’s confusion re her sexual orientation at the 11th hour is simply a bad one that reeks of a sense of slavish obligation to that subject matter which is wholly that of the filmmaker’s, not this character's*.)

I never thought I'd be wishing this was actually a female football sports movie after the horrible throw that went for a TD in the opening scene…


…But here we are. (Also, that seems really weird in retrospect. Both, that there even is all-girls American football in France, and that it just never came up again. Maybe it was supposed to be a metaphor for the violence and ruthlessness to come but that's messy and wrongheaded, as well. Also also: why were the teams celebrating together?)

Part of me wishes I could have seen this unburdened with knowledge of who made it to see how I might have reacted. I'd like to think my response would have been similar but I'm open to my own biases, and readily admit that that might not have been the case. It's really why I make an effort to watch such a wide variety of films made by a wide variety of people (not trying to pat myself on the back for this either).

In the end, this was a major disappointment after the 10/10 effort, Tomboy.

*Not that this element could not or should not have been part of a story like this. I’m simply talking about how it’s deployed/executed.

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Girlhood (French: Bande de filles, lit. 'Group of Girls') is a 2014 French coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Céline Sciamma. The plot focuses on the life of Marieme (Karidja Touré), a teenage girl who lives in a rough neighbourhood on the outskirts 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. It was released on May 15, 2014.