3 petites filles (2004)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Jean-Loup Hubert

Writer:

Jean-Loup Hubert (writer)

Release Date:

29 September 2004 (Belgium)

Plot:

Two teenage girls try to help their best friend who is being forced into an arranged marriage in Algiers...

Plot Keywords:

Corsica | Friendship Between Girls | Forced Marriage | Misleading Title | Number In Title

Cast

Gérard Jugnot	...	Paolo
Adriana Karembeu	...	Laetitia
Morgane Cabot	...	Pauline
Sabrina Ouazani	...	Lilia
Lucie de Saint-Thibault	...	Lucie
Marc Andréoni	...	Léo
Alexandre Ibisk	...	Alex
Julien Hubert	...	Thibaut
Michaël Toch-Martin	...	Rachid
Thérèse Liotard	...	La mère de Pauline
Tania Garbarski	...	Delphine
Jacques Ouaniche	...	Le père de Pauline
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Claudine Acs	...	La vieille dame
Kristie Austin	...	Mère de Lucie
Philippe Bastien	...	Père de Lucie
Christian Beissy	...	L'Homme au balcon
Thomas Bronzini de Caraffa	...	Le Garçon de café (as Thomas Bronzoni)
Stéphane De Groodt	...	L'Inspecteur
Didier Ferrari	...	Capitaine de gendarmerie
Christian Gauthier	...	Le Dragueur
Aida Harzallah	...	Grand-Mère de Lilia
Valérie Lecomte	...	L'infirmière
Charly Picciocchi	...	Client du Café
Nathalie Raiman	...	Mère de Lilia
Louis Bastien Reihes	...	Adrien
Didier Sabathe	...	L'inspecteur
Karim Saleh	...	Youssef

Runtime:

France:102 min

Country:

Belgium | France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Filming Locations:

Bonifacio, Corse-du-Sud, France

Company:

Alexis Films

Movie Connections:

References Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Innocence versus growing up, dreams versus reality

As the title says, it's about three girls. Lucie is a little troubled soul who experiments on her cats but they all have their worries. For Lilia it is the most urgent as her family plans to return to Algiers to marry her to a cousin. She finds little help from her family and as the mother of Pauline - her best friend - tells her, legally there is little they can do. In contrast to these two girls Pauline had a wonderful moment as she saw Johnny Depp, her idol, sit on the bus across her. Of course her friends don't believe her even if she brings a magazine to school that mentions how Johnny and Vanessa are holidaying in a secluded place in Corsica. Lilia tries to escape her fate by running away and they end up "running" after Johnny depp, hoping to find him and alert him to Lilia's problem and that he will cause a bit of mayhem in the media to help her out. What follows is a roadmovie in which the girls discover more about themselves and their views on live especially when their ideals are put in sharp contrast with the lifestyle of a couple they meet on the way (Paolo and Laetitia), who helps them out and with reality. The movie is a story of 3 girls on the verge of growing up, what they hope to gain but also what they will need to give up in the process when they can no longer be the innocent child. The story is not as mellow as the above may lead you to think. On their departure there is an incident that causes the girls to live on a delicate balance between running towards a dream and running away as Pauline is terribly worried that she will be found by the police. There are quite some tense moments as the police gets closer. But I do dare you not to cry at the end of the movie. The major plusses for this movie are the wonderful acting of all involved and the choice of the music to accompany the scenes (featuring Radiohead among others). For the Depp fans I would like to add that neither he or Vanessa make a cameo appearance in this movie.