Meine kleinen Geliebten

My Little Loves is a charming and at times troubling semi-autobiographical film detailing a year in the life of a stand-in for Eustache in the south of France. During the course of the film, we see him transformed from a bright but somewhat shy rural boy to a blossoming teenage hoodlum in a larger town. Ripped away from the comfort of his grandmother's home in the country, he finds himself sleeping on a cot in his mother's one room flat in town and working as a mechanic instead of attending high school. There is plenty of time for drifting, and he falls in with an older crowd of delinquents at a local cafe, much of whose activities revolve around groping girls and searching for that elusive score.

The molestation of women might be offputting to some. But it is supposed to be somewhat offputting. Becoming an adolescent is a painful process in the best of times, and Eustache's young self has more than his fair shares of troubles. He can't relate to women except in the most base sense of groping them. This essential failure is a metaphor for all of his youthful inabilities to cope. And despite what we might think of some of his behaviors, we certainly empathize with him. Especially any guy who is old enough to have gone through this experience will. The only weakness here is perhaps a bit of excessive audience manipulation to evoke sympathy for him, through bludgeoning us with his being yanked from school despite being a very bright student and the like. Still, I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

This was my first introduction to Jean Eustache's work (during a retrospective at a local film fest) and I didnt really know what to expect. Having seen 12 films in the past 4 days, and lining up an old French film that was over 2 hours, I was prepared to fight to stay awake. I must say I was more than pleasantly surprised to find myself getting caught up in this charming tale of a boy's youth in France. In some ways, the lack of a distinct plot adds to the charm of the film, as a series of vignettes strung together give the real feeling of a slice of life. The gaucheness of the boy, especially towards girls, had the entire audience squirming in their seats at times, but out of sympathy for the lad, who I would rate as the character I have connected most with emotionally in recent time.

The way that women are depicted in the film is certainly dated when we look back on it now, however in some ways this works well, as we are never really privy to how these women think just as Daniel is not (it is very interesting that we do not learn his name until very much near the end, and I for one did not realise I hadnt known it). Beautifully and lovingly shot, very well acted indeed, this is a feelgood film without being sappy, Amelie without the surrealism.

Small (though long), quiet (literally - there is no music score, for example), observant (like its lead), nostalgic coming-of-age tale. Not much plot, just a series of daily-life blackout vignettes. It definitely has its boring moments, but also some wonderful ones, like the boy getting his first kiss in a movie theater playing "Pandora And The Flying Dutchman". Successfully captures both small-town and country atmosphere, thanks in large part to Nestor Almendros' beautiful cinematography. *** out of 4.