Melissa P.

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.

I saw very little of the book in this film, this is not to say that this alone makes for a poor movie. As a matter of fact it was better that the book despite the fact that I still thought it was awful. I personally feel that the only reason any one bothered to make this book into a film was because of the shock value. Melissa's sexual exploits were for the most part disgusting and whatever was left over was disturbing. I'm not prude but that book nauseated me, and the movie wasn't much better. At least the movie had some kind of a story. The book was more or less a detailed list of all the raunchy things she had done in her past, there was no connection between her and any part of her family. No mention of the grandmother that figures quite largely into the movie's plot, not a peep. All in all if you have the choice between the movie or the book pick the movie, at least it is shorter.

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.

I was flipping around for something to watch since I was bored. Saw this. Sicily, which is a place I love and visited many times, a good director, some erotica from a young female perspective, and so I thought eh, why not?

And although I was not really bored and there are some good things about this movie, it is not a well time spent and I cannot recommend.

First the good; María Valverde is excellent. She play her lead role brilliantly with a mix of sexual awakening, teenage angst, sometimes adult, sometimes a kid, and with a great range of emotions. The sexual scenes (rather hinted at scenes) were also handled really good, with nothing but some breasts showing, and acted really well. I also think this is a thoughtful movie in many ways, or at least it tries to be. The sexual awakening of young females is not so often depicted in movies, and here it is shown (or: tries to show) some of the traps that comes with it. It is really hard to become a teenager and wanting sex, but also wanting love and closeness, and not fully being able to differentiate between the two. Something that often lead us to make mistakes growing up and also go looking for love/sex in the wrong places. We have all been through it, strange that parents are not able to convey it properly over the generations and teach their young a bit more about reality. But it is not easy being parent, and the young filled with hormones seldom listen.

It is also here the negatives start.

Although the movie tries to tell the story I draw up in the positives above, it fails. Partly it is the acting of the rest of the cast which, with perhaps only one exception, is pretty bad. Partly the writing is way off and is basically only saved by María playing the character of Melissa to perfection, but she cannot save this movie, nor is it saved by its good intention. The directing misses are also there, which is weird since I really love Guadagnino as a director but this is one of his first films so perhaps that is why. The movie also show very little of Sicily which was the main reason I watched it. This could basically have been filmed anywhere. The sets are not very good, the light is off, the sound design is seldom on point, the music bland and seem very random. The great and slightly creepy dungeon scene with all the boys which is very well done is unfortunately the only excellent exception since the entire design of this movie, from the set, to clothes, to directing, to music, to acting, it is all amateurish and subpar. Sadly all the negatives also hide the good intention of the movie and make it into a failure.

I am being very generous giving this movie a 6/10, because I cannot recommend this to anyone. However I really love the main actress - Oscars level of acting! And I like the intention of the movie and what they tried to do deserve an extra point. If you watch this, keep expectations down and enjoy María's acting and you might get some positives out of it.

First-off, the only reason I'm writing this is because the 4.3 rating is almost impossible. I mean the direction and cinematography by itself will get this movie to a 6. No, I haven't read the book and I genuinely do not believe that the movie should be rated as per the adaptation from the book. The performances standing out are Melissa (of course) and her grandmother. The music and cinematography have a presence of their own throughout the movie. And the plot never gets boring or unrealistic, given a slightly open imagination. If you're aged anywhere between 15 and 35 I would highly recommend a viewing. The only reason I gave it an 8/10 is because we have movies like Fight Club and Animatrix.