The Adolescent
1979 · Directed by Jeanne Moreau
Original language: French
- drama
The story
In the summer of 1939, 13-year-old Marie goes with her parents to visit her grandparents in a small town near Avignon. Marie discovers her femininity and falls for a young Jewish doctor, but he prefers Eva, Marie's mother.
What it’s like
Warm summer light slants through shutters and over sun-faded provincial rooms, with the camera lingering patiently on faces and small domestic gestures. The countryside around Avignon feels dusty and golden, full of cicadas, slow afternoons and the hum of a family house in the heat, with a faint undertow of pre-war unease. The vibe is wistful and tender, bittersweet summer nostalgia with a thread of dread about what is coming. The pacing is unhurried, drifting through long days and quiet exchanges, with emotional weight landing in glances and silences rather than set pieces. Its story follows a girl awakening to desire and the sting of first infatuation, in a register that is aching rather than melodramatic and clear-eyed about adolescent longing and the adults' tangled lives. Intensity is low: no graphic violence or gore, and sexual content is implied rather than shown. It suits a slow afternoon, a late-summer evening or a reflective solo watch, and is for people who want a gentle, sun-soaked coming-of-age film with mature emotional texture, especially those drawn to films by women directors about girlhood.
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