17 filles (2011)

When a rebellious teenager finds out that she is already eight weeks pregnant, she forms a pact with sixteen of her classmates to get pregnant simultaneously, raise their children together, and most of all, be in charge of their lives.

Directors:

Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin

Writers:

Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin

Stars:

Louise Grinberg, Juliette Darche, Roxane Duran

3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Louise Grinberg	...	Camille
Juliette Darche	...	Julia
Roxane Duran	...	Florence
Esther Garrel	...	Flavie
Yara Pilartz	...	Clémentine
Solène Rigot	...	Mathilde
Noémie Lvovsky	...	L'infirmière scolaire
Florence Thomassin	...	La mère de Camille
Carlo Brandt	...	Le proviseur
Frédéric Noaille	...	Florian
Arthur Verret	...	Tom
Philippine Raude Toulliou	...	Philippine
Sharleen Le Mero Pietruszka	...	Sharleen
Charlotte Alonso	...	Charlotte
Julia Ballester	...	Julia

Storyline

This summer, at the port-city of Lorient in Brittany, something amazing happened. Young rebellious dreamer Camille is already eight weeks pregnant, the father of her unborn child is completely unimportant and out of the picture, nevertheless, the unripe school girl boldly decides to keep the baby. And then comes the unforeseen surprise. Camille, as the undisputed alpha-girl in class, convinces her high school friends to form an unbreakable pact and get pregnant simultaneously, raise their children together, be free, happy, and most of all, in charge of their lives. Before long, sixteen more girls will confidently take the plunge in a purposeful act of emancipation, dreaming of changing the world and courageously trying something different from their fearful parents. Is this the face of progress or is it just an unquiet and tumultuous childish curiosity? Either way, when you are an intrepid beautiful dreamer full of energy, who can really stand in your way?

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Plot Keywords:

f rated | title directed by female | face slap | driving lesson | ambulance | 

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Taglines:

17 Girls, 17-years-old and Pregnant.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France]

Country:

France

Language:

French English

Release Date:

21 September 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

17 Girls

Filming Locations:

Roche Sèche, Erdeven, Morbihan, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,449, 23 September 2012, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$15,002, 11 November 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

Archipel 35, Arte France Cinéma, Canal+

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is based on real events that took place in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 2008.

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Quotes

Camille: There was guy who found a penguin on the beach. He asked a policeman what he should do with it. And the policeman said: "You should take it to the zoo." The guy said: "Yes. Good idea. I'll take it to the zoo." Two days later, the same policeman's doing his rounds, and he ran into the same guy, still with the penguin. So he said: "Haven't you taken it to the zoo yet?" The guy said: "I did, and he loved it. Now I'm taking him to the movies."

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Soundtracks

It's Getting Boring By The Sea
Written by Steven Ansell and Laura Carter
Performed by Blood Red Shoes
(c) BUCKS MUSIC GROUP LTD
(p) 2008 V2 Records International Ltd
With permission of Universal Music Vision
and David Platz Music Editions

User Reviews

Slightly insightful, but not wholly convincing or worthwhile

17 Girls (2011)

Lots of mid-teen girl stuff on French beaches. And yet supposedly a social issue movie about a rash of intentional pregnancies at a high school. There are scenes between the girls that pry into contemporary youth culture but only get the lid off. This is a sensational idea with the depth of a single gasp.

Even stranger, once you get into it, is how the movie makers, the writer/director pair Delphine and Muriel Coulin (both did both), took an American high school news story and adapted it to this small industrial coastal city in France. It doesn't right true. The utter rebellion of the kids to reason, their various trajectories around peer pressure and media hype, and the general glibness of some of the school reactions all seem a bit callous, and without nuance.

There is an attempt at depth (and some of the best acting) though the main character, Camille, played by Louise Grinberg. Here the need for such rebellion seems to have roots in her psyche and her family situation. How this effect "spreads" and becomes an easy viral sense of irresponsibility is not given much thought, however. There are three or four other girls who are given some complexity, but not enough to quite explain their motiviations.

Maybe the project was doomed when the writers faced the central problem—this is both about a large effect (over a dozen girls, en masse) and an individual problem (one by one). How to do both? Especially when it happens pretty much simultaneously.

There is a low budget documentary on the real deal—"The Gloucester 18" which is apparently (from their press kit) a kind of public service piece against teen pregnancy— and there is a TV series in Spanish called "El Pacto" that supposedly expands on the sensational aspects of the story. I'm not sure any of it is worth the trouble more than just reading a new article about the phenomenon. The movie here is curious at first, slow to get going, and has a few interesting moments, but it hardly holds up over an hour and a half.