An Easy Girl

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28:40

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This is one of those coming of age movies where a teenager gets introduced to more adult matters by an older friend or relative. In this story, sixteen year old Naima is introduced to the adult world by her 22 year old cousin. Mina Farid plays Naima and I liked her character very much. However, 28 year old Zahia Dehar is totally wrong for the older cousin. She is too old for the role and has had way too much plastic surgery including her unrealistically large and tight breasts. In these stories there is usually an older friend of similar age who is light years ahead of the protagonist in looks and experience. However, Dehar is actually pushing middle age and the director uses a soft focus on her a lot. Naima is no lamb to the slaughter but can stand up to herself. She has the character that Sofia lacks. She gets money from her mother to pay for lunch when Sofia intends to dine and dash. She returns at the end of the film to apologize to one of the men on the yacht and to make sure he knows she is not a thief. At the end of the movie, Sofia has decamped to Paris and Naima is training as a chef. Thirty years on when Naima is 46 you can envision her as an accomplished person but Sofia at 50 can only be envisioned as being in bad marriage. This could have been a very sweet film but the script and the casting doom it.

The actress who plays Sofia even sometimes tries to speak like Brigitte Bardot and wants to look like her but it's like a Painted rock which wants to be a Gem. In that aspect the actress who looks like a cartoon pinup character and the movie fail. She is over the top with make-up and plastic surgery and vulgar unlike the superb Bardot who was a natural Diamond oozing sensuality! It's a simple story with beautiful settings and it's worth watching as it's only 90 minutes.

What a beautiful film. From the people, to the backdrops, to the music; a beautiful film. The story and acting just add to the beauty. It reminded me of a Fellini film.

Rebecca Zlotowski's 'An Easy Girl' is a film about sun, sex, and pleasure. It is essentially a coming of age story with a dash of ongoing themes of a working-class lifestyle versus a "working girl" lifestyle and male gaze versus male respect but with none of those themes are conveyed or executed in depth. Beautifully shot and has some wonderful set pieces to tell the story but, unfortunately, it falls flat in terms of plot and character development.