Graduate First

Being one of the more overlooked and forgotten Pialats this took me quite off guard. This seems to be the point where Pialat really changed his style. This is actually quite warm, even though we're still, at least in parts, the objective observer. We follow the lives of a group of young friends in their final year of high school, who drift about, make out, have sex, get married, get low paying jobs, etc.

The first half really felt like a more low down contemporary French version of American Graffity only without the cars. It has quite a bit of charm, and the characters are quite the personalities. Slightly lost it's drive towards the middle, when they went on vacation, and the tension with parents, etc. was rather left behind, but it went strong till the end - though I must admit I was slightly disappointed by the final reveal. Anyhow, pretty spectacular stuff. And very unexpected coming from Pialat. 8.5/10.