Une jeune fille à la fenêtre

In 1925, a young country girl, knowing that she had less than a year to live, goes to the big city to learn the piano from a famous teacher. That's only an excuse to have fun, live fast, drink hard, smoke a lot, dance all night: to be a perfect flapper. After

falling in love with a Black jazz musician, she realise that this kind of life was not was she was looking for. This is a slow beautiful arty film, in a very European mood.Francis Leclerc, in his first film, shows us that he a a very good technique, creativity, imagination, and credibility. All the young actors are very good, but perhaps the star of the film, Fanny Malette, is a little bit cold... This is a very different kind of movie for a Quebec production. It shows us that North-American modernity was also present in Quebec big cities in the 1920's. Most of the times, Quebec film's about periods before 1940 shows us only the rural conservative side of our society. As an author, in 1999, I had a book, Perles et Chapelet, which presents a similarity with this film : the flappers. A filmaker have read my book (I won't tell her name!) and she said to me it had the potential for a very good film, but she said that Quebec's producers have no money to put in a setting of the past. When I saw UNE JEUNE FILLE À LA FENÊTRE, it stucks me : there are not many setting in the streets. Francis Leclerc did it with a low budget, and that's why he concentrates on the actors. I think a American or a French film about the subjects (the flappers) or that era (the 1920's) will have shown us more outside settings.

A very good and senstive piece of work for Mr. Leclerc. Let's hope many other films from him !

I saw this film on DVD, and for the most part, I enjoyed it. However, I did not always feel that the characters or the set accurately evoked the era it was set in. Also, the sexual experiences of the main character are left to guesswork. Did she have an affair with the young artist who goes off to France, or was she only involved with the Dixie-land musician? Does she die of a broken heart or was she dying all along? Some of the dialogue was a bit too corny. Realism can be taken a bit too far in the movies. A movie often appears corny and unpolished if there is too much realism in dialogue. In comparison to Mariages, which I saw earlier this year, and which did, quite powerfully, evoke a sense of time and setting, I liked the former better, although that movie was often bleak and slow-paced. I would give mariages a 7 out of 10 and A Girl at the Window a 6.5 out of 10. I am encouraged that more Canadian films are becoming more accessible and better in quality.

I have decided that this film is a masterpiece. In fact, I can not see anything at all wrong with it. It has all the characteristics that make a good film including superb acting, believability, cinematography, music and editing. If I were dying of a heart defect, I would want to live life to the fullest just as our heroine does. I personally think that the filmmaker has created a wonderful milieu for this powerful emotional drama of love and loss. The characters have depth and I found myself wanting to be there with them. Highly Recommended 10 out of 10.

As it stands, the movie's strength are more in the costumes and some of the Quebec city imagery. Several elements showed potential but weren't used to their fullest. For instance, using the symbolic use of horse imagery helped the film achieve some poetic effect but the fact that its meaning is described almost explicitly at the beginning of the movie downplays this effect.

Acting is quite uneven both in "quality" and in style. Some of this makes sense and could have been exploited, but it does bring the movie down, at times. Same with some of the cinematography. Some of the techniques used would have made more sense contextualized and only feel "maladroit" as they are.

Still, the movie is enjoyable in its portrayal of the artistic community of that era. As a Montrealer, it did make me want to go to Quebec city more often. And there are some very funny moments.