J’aime regarder les filles
Some laboured class anxiety curdles a serviceable teen romance.
SCREENINGS:
Saturday, September 10, 3:45 p.m.
Jackman Hall – AGO (317 Dundas Street West)
Sunday, September 11, 6:45 p.m.
AMC 5 (10 Dundas Street East)
Friday, September 16, 5 p.m.
AMC 2 (10 Dundas Street East)
Opening on bright sans-serif credits that set the tone for its Nouvelle Vague-by-way-of-Wes-Anderson pandering, J’aime regarder les filles is a tired tale of awkward male adulthood, which pretends to cut across class barriers as well. Primo (Pierre Niney) is a perfectly fine middle-class 18-year-old, struggling to qualify for his university entrance exam. The son of florists who bankroll his sloppy boho life in Paris, Primo’s indebtedness to his parents’ pocketbook breeds a pointed class anxiety. After meeting the lovely, and wealthy, Gabrielle (Lou de Laage) at a party he sneaks into, Primo starts living well beyond his means in an attempt to impress her circle of upper-crust kids who parade around like the Parisian equivalent of the spoiled debutant from Whit Stillman’s <em>Metropolitan</em>.
Set against the election of François Mitterrand in France in 1981, the film tugs briefly at the conservative/socialist divide. But this is soon abandoned in favour of scene after scene of Primo’s deludedly aspirational class posturing. It’s frustrating, watching him work so desperately to impress these blue-bloods, especially when the girl who’s right for him is smack in front of him from the get-go. The romance is gawky too, with kids confessing love after one lukewarm night together. Maybe this is what teenage heartbreak looks like in France. Still, witless.