17 Girls - French Film Festival  CTC

Rating CTC

Release DateSaturday, 31 March 2012

Length 1hrs 27min

Main Cast Louise Grinberg, Juliette Darche, Roxane Duran, Esther Garrel, Noémie Lovovsky, Florence Thomassin, Carlo Brandt, Solène Rigot, Frédéric Noaille, Arthur Verret

Movie DirectorDelphine & Muriel Coulin

DistributorFrench Film Festival

Between light comedy and drama, this debut film from the Coulin sisters is based on a true story. The film recounts how the accidental pregnancy of a young teenager leads to an epidemic of teen pregnancies.

The girls are all from the same school and all fall pregnant at the same time. First of all, their collective choice establishes a form of teenage utopia, as they plan a life without restraint, a life for themselves and their future children. It’s a dream, which harks back to the naïve sense of optimism typical of these tender teenage years.

But this act of emancipation also highlights a disturbing sense of feminism. When it comes to the option of abortion, parents of girls aged under eighteen are relatively powerless. In a legal sense, the girls themselves are fully responsible for this decision. This powerful film subsequently tracks the changes in the minds and bodies of these young girls, reminding us in an entirely unconventional way of what can happen on the journey to becoming a woman.

“A strong flavour of iodine, youth and life” - Le Point