Melissa P.

(2005) Melissa P.

(In Italian with English subtitles) BIO DRAMA

Adapted from a memoir or autobiography "One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed" by Melissa Panarello detailing at least a year of her journey of sexual experiences by the month of the weather. Co-written and directed by Luca Guadagnino that opens with Melissa played by María Valverde as she is also the narrator starting with "Summer" as viewers are hearing what she has written on her diary with the last day of the school year, both her and her best friend, Manuela Bozzini (Letizia Ciampa) are invited to Daniela's pool house. Daniela also happens to be the guy Melissa has a crush on, he is played by Primo Reggiani, and in the movie, he appears to be arrogant, self absorbed and an ego maniac, which rises to the question why would anyone be attracted to someone like that in the first place. And throughout the entire movie Daniele treats her terrible. Anyways, there is someone who is capable to treat and be with her for the right reasons, his name is Marco De Angelis (Nilo Mur) for it is just a matter of time of when she notices him. The more Melissa's sexual awakening is ignored by her mom as her dad is always away because of work required him to be overseas, the only family member she has the most rapport with happens to be her grandmother, Elvira (Geraldine Chaplin). Melissa's tart behavior worsens as soon as her grandmother is sent to a care home.

I do not know how the author herself thought about the movie, but I thought the makers did a poor job addressing how Daniele's other peers thought about the supposedly most popular teenager he is sought since he is supposed to be the wealthiest or the one girls want the most as their are only two teens on Melissa's peer group who are tall and appear to treat female counterparts like dirt. And if anyone were to watch this, you can tell the author herself was not even credited as a consultant as the movie was supposed to be about her and what she had written in her diaries/ memoir.

I saw many embarrassed and even angry reviews on this film, which were pushing me off the chair, and i wanna talk not about the film itself, but the topic it chose. Because that caught me in memories of my youth, that is what also makes a great film, the script, and I can't be grateful enough for this made me remember.

The film is not as much of a fiction as many would like it to be. In very realistic way discloses the hyper-sensitivity of youth, the feelings, the special way everything is coming to a man's brain, the sex, the colors, messed up thoughts...and then here are decisions. It is wonderful how Melissa always want to choose what to do with her life, what to feel, how to act, what to search for, but somehow the change is only in her deeds but not in her inside, her diary pickups are often in disharmony with what happens to her afterwards. But although she is in fact doing this to herself, she is just so full of it! And so she is coping with her teenage pain as rational as she can in her age. Of course, the sex. When you don't know what it is, but you want it badly. She is less self-aware then the character played by Liv Tyler in Stealing Beauty, but much more pro-active. She doesn't let situations pass by, she is grabbing what she can of them, she does not wait in a corner. That's what i liked at Melissa. The cruelty of acts and the sweetness of the inside. Unsplittable. And that this movie is more real than a sweet romance movie. It is of the age - if she were a little more older, the tender detailed camera would lost its narrative function. And maybe the casting would pickup another actress.

Anyway, I love it more and more. It's telling exactly the teen story, which have been missed.

Based on a controversial novel, this coming-of-age drama from 'A Bigger Splash' director Luca Guadagnino focuses on a fifteen year old girl who begins to sexually experiment in unconventional and degrading ways. María Valverde is well cast in the title role and wearing negligible makeup, Geraldine Chaplin looks at least a decade older than her actual age in a memorable turn as Valverde's feisty, free-spirited grandmother. Interesting as Valverde is to follow around, there are some gaps in her character progression. At times, it seems like she is acting out as a result of being rebuffed by her high school crush with at least a couple of points in which she agrees to do things to prove that she is "not a baby". And yet, it is what happens to her grandmother that actually initiates her quest, and try as the film does, it has trouble finding a balance between being about grief and societal pressures. There is also something to be said for the lack of graphic imagery. Most of her exploits are told to us via diary entries and while this has the advantage of leaving it up to one's imagination to fill in the blanks, everything that occurs resonates less since we only ever see fleeting glimpses of her quest. Curiously enough, even with the explicit content kept to a minimum, the film has still sparked some controversy. It is certainly not a film for all tastes and its low IMDb rating is only representative of just how divisive a movie it is. 'Melissa P.' is hardly a flawless motion picture, but there is more of interest to it than one might expect.

An Italo-Spanish co-production about the sexual awakening of teenager Melissa, loosely based in the semi-autobiographic novel "100 colpi di spazzola prima di andare a dormire" by Melissa Panarello.

The movie shows the dilemmas, challenges, and darkness that young women face when they become sexual beings, try to accept their sexuality, but have no sexual education or guidance.

It is truly rare finding a movie that focus on teenager women and sex, and not men, and in which the woman is presented as an explicitly sexual human being.

The movie is frank and even ruthless in its approach to contemporary teens' sexuality in general and Melissa's in particular. We see her strong shameless strong sex drive, which she cannot harmonize with her wish to be loved and respected as a woman by a man. She struggles making sense of the importance of accepting social boundaries and not giving way to peer pressure to fit into a group, which is a quintessential teen problem. Melissa's awakening is a path of pain as well as of pleasure, but takes her to very dark places, in scenes that can be disturbing.

Despite the good premises, the script is uneven, not always engaging, and has most adult characters barely sketched except for Melissa's and for Melissa's charming eccentric grandmother -played by Geraldine Chaplin-. The character of Melissa's mother Daria -played by Fabrizia Sacchi- is barely drawn, and very stereotypical. The absent father, and his marital relationship with Daria, is barely explained, just a reference outside. Most male teen characters are depicted as despicable villains, stereotypical machos, and I don't think I want to believe that is always the case.

Maria Valverde is very good as Melissa, actually, she's the best thing in the movie. She has an impressive acting registry for such a young age. Her face is splendorous always, her expression innocent, childish, weak and boyish sometimes, hyper-feminine, dramatic, strong and sexual some others. Valverde has to deal with very raunchy scenes, some of them very dramatic, and she succeeds at making believable her character. Geraldine Chaplin is always a delight, but I did not find her especially inspired in this movie, mostly because the way her character is written. The rest of the actors are just OK.

A not always engaging movie, but with some interesting themes and a good performance by Valverde.

I was so glad to see a film reach for reality. Too many films drop the ball on actually hitting what truly does happen in real life. Built the story and ran with it , great decision making on all accounts during the filming. Just wished they push the envelope a lil more, would've made this a lot better. Certain scenes missed on how it went down & what happened immediately after, not the next day or hours later. Would've been great to see how a few scenes actually ended & how the main character walked away from it ? ***IF anyone knows any other films similar to this, Please fill me in.

I've written 5 movies myself, just not sure how to get them out there ?