Breillat pushes the envelope

Catherine Breillat, the notorious French bad girl behind the camera, has come back on the scene with a return to her constant themes of sexual psychology and human behavior. Breillat may be remembered by some for penning and directing 1999's controversial "Romance," in which a schoolteacher explores various sexual situations in a search for satisfaction. With her new film, "Fat Girl," she tells the story of two adolescent sisters, Anaïs (Anaïs Reboux), who is 13, and her vixen-nymph sister, Elena (Roxane Mesquida), who is 15. On a "holiday," or vacation, with their family in Southern France, the girls talk about losing their virginity, and Elena is the one who decides to do something about it.\nBreillat's film and its dialogue are often realistic to the point of squeamish discomfort. In long takes we watch as Elena's boyfriend, the elder and manipulative Fernando (Libero De Rienzo), uses every promise, threat and lie to convince Elena that she should "express your love to me" by allowing him to go all the way. Conflict arises in the fact that Elena's sister, the lumpy Anaïs, shares a room with Elena and is torn between jealousy for what her sister has and anger for her sister's naiveté. \nThe controversy surrounding this film stems from the fact that we have very young girls not only talking very frankly about sexuality, but being shown in sexually explicit scenes with full frontal nudity. The film has actually been banned in some parts of the world. What must be understood, however, is that Breillat's film is not using the sex to titillate or attract a wider audience. It's being used to tell a very open and honest story that refuses to look away. In this manner, Breillat can be commended and her film respected for its endeavor into risky areas we tend to not want to look at or listen to.\nYet, in one of the most absurd endings I have ever seen, Breillat leaves her film with such a shockingly violent conclusion that almost the entirety of the film suddenly seems nothing less than a hack job. Her film, and its final images, are not easy to forget and have been tormenting my mind for days and for that, I can say Breillat did her job. But I can only recommend this film for those who are willing to delve into some of the darkest recesses of the heart and the human mind.