The Grand Illusion

Twelve-year-old Anaïs is fat. Her sister, fifteen-year-old Elena, is a beauty. While the girls are on vacation with their parents, Anaïs tags along as Elena explores the dreary seaside town. Elena meets Fernando, an Italian law student; he seduces her with promises of love, and the ever watchful Anaïs bears witness to the corruption of her sister’s innocence. FAT GIRL is not only a portrayal of female adolescent sexuality and the complicated bond between siblings, but also a shocking assertion by the always controversial Catherine Breillat that violent oppression exists at the core of male-female relations.

Part of our series, Un Bouquet de Breillat.

In French with English subtitles.

“A strange, discomfiting and fascinating film about the horrors of adolescence.” Manohla Dargis, L.A.  Weekly

“This is not a film softened and made innocuous by timid studio executives after ‘test screenings.’ There is a jolting surprise in discovering that this film has free will, and can end as it wants, and that its director can make her point, however brutally.” Roger Ebert