La fille seule (1995)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Benoît Jacquot

Writers:

Jérôme Beaujour (writer)
Benoît Jacquot (writer)

Release Date:

30 October 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Early one morning Valerie has to tell her unemployed boyfriend Remi that she is pregnant. She has decided to keep the child...

Plot Keywords:

Breakfast | Boyfriend | Hotel | Female Nudity | Coffee Shop

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Virginie Ledoyen	...	Valérie Sergent
Benoît Magimel	...	Rémi
Dominique Valadié	...	Valérie's mother
Véra Briole	...	Sabine
Virginie Emane	...	Fatiah
Michel Bompoil	...	Jean-Marc
Aladin Reibel	...	M. Sarre
Jean-Chrétien Sibertin-Blanc	...	Patrice
Guillemette Grobon	...	Mme Charles
Toni Cecchinato	...	Italian man
Giulia Urso	...	Italian woman
Matéo Blanc	...	Fabien, the child
Jean-Claude Frissung
Hervé Gamelin	...	Jean
Catherine Guittoneau	...	Jean's lover

Also Known As:

A Single Girl (International: English title)

Runtime:

90 min | Argentina:96 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Cinéa

Trivia:

English Title: "A Single Girl".

Virginie Ledoyen in a star-making performance

A SINGLE GIRL (Benoît Jacquot - France 1995).

A little known gem with the beautiful Virginie Ledoyen in the lead. I have a special relation with some films and this is certainly one of them. I first saw it - not long after it came out - on Dutch public television in my final year in high school. I thought the girl in the main role (Virginie Ledoyen) was the coolest girl I ever saw and the film always stuck with me. Later on, largely due to her performance in this film, she would become a big star and continued to be in the limelight and even played alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in THE BEACH (2000), so that's probably why I kept remembering her role in LA SEULE FILLE.

For a large part, the film plays in real time as the camera follows Valérie on the day she finds out she's pregnant. She starts a new job in a hotel as a maid. Her day-to-day routines are followed, her various encounters with the hotel guests and her intermittent meetings with her boyfriend at a nearby café. He doesn't know how to handle the situation, he doesn't have a job and cannot seem to make up his mind about anything, let alone this situation. He is a bit of a loser. Off course Valérie is in the toughest spot but somehow she never ceases to lose control or overview of the situation. She is on screen all the time as the camera follows her constantly while she walks down the corridors of the hotel, in the elevator, walking down the streets. Even though she has an attitude, is arrogant and acts a bit too wise for a girl her age, she remains absolutely fascinating throughout the film.

The lack of plot hardly mattered to me, because it's compensated by Virginie Ledoyen's radiant presence. This is the perfect example of a film where one actor or actress completely makes it work.

Camera Obscura --- 9/10