Themes: Sexual Awakening, Sibling Relationships, Innocence Lost
Main Cast: Anaïs Reboux, Roxane Mesquida, Libero de Rienzo, Arsinée Khanjian, Romain Goupil
Release Year: 2001
Country: FR/IT
Run Time: 86 minutes
Plot
Director Catherine Breillat, who courted international controversy with her film Romance, once again pushed the envelope with this disturbing (if somewhat less explicit) look at adolescent sexuality. Anaïs (Anaïs Reboux) is a 12-year-old girl with a weight problem and a downbeat disposition growing up in a family which offers her little in the way of understanding and affection. Anaïs has a typically adolescent love/hate relationship with her slimmer and prettier 15-year-old sister, Elena (Roxane Mesquida); she's at once fascinated by her sister (and the boys who follow her around), and hates her for the love and attention she receives from others. While the family spends the summer at the beach, Elena attracts the attentions of Fernando (Libero de Rienzo), a college student from Italy who makes no secret of his attraction to Elena's budding sexuality. Anaïs, on the other hand, is forced to make do with a sad game in which she pretends that a ladder and a diving board at a neighborhood swimming pool are two suitors vying for her affections. Anaïs shares a room with Elena, and finds herself a fascinated, if troubled, witness as Fernando uses both charm and deceit to rob her sister of her virginity, while Elena is too naïve to see through the lies Fernando is spinning -- and enjoys having Anaïs as an audience for her steadily advancing sex play with Fernando. Anaïs is more aware than her older sister of Fernando's insincerity, but she finds Elena isn't eager to believe her. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
A downbeat tale about the tortures of adolescence, A Ma Soeur! goes well beyond most people's worst childhood experiences. Everybody in Anaïs' family dumps their problems on her, while constantly reminding her that she's a helpless, chubby girl who can't stop eating. The only halfway decent relationship that she has is with her sister, Elena, who has some affinity with her, even though Elena often degrades her, blames her for her own faults, and is forced to drag her around when she's hunting for men. Director Catherine Breillat expertly captures these awkward years in the dialogue between the two sisters, the sometimes uncomfortable sex scenes, and in Anaïs' anguished facial expressions. The sex scenes are lengthy, graphic, and portray underage sex, but this sort of stuff is becoming de rigueur for contemporary French cinema. All of the acting is excellent, from Libero de Rienzo's performance as the slimy, Italian college student who shows off to Elena about other girls he's used and then dumped, to Arsinee Khanjian, as the sisters' emotionally unstable, chain-smoking mom, to Anaïs Reboux's Anaïs, who seems to have no hope in this world. The ending of the film is certainly controversial with some critics lashing out against it. But undoubtedly this is French cinema at its most fearless, a film one thinks about, discusses, and does not forget. ~ Adam Bregman, All Movie Guide
À ma sœur! (For my Sister) is a 2001 French film directed by Catherine Breillat and starring Roxane Mesquida. It was released in some English speaking countries under the alternative titles For My Sister or Fat Girl.
Breillat's experience shooting the film inspired her 2002 film Sex Is Comedy, which revolves around shooting a sex scene from the film.
Thirteen-year-old Anaïs is fat. Her older sister, Elena, is a teenage beauty. While on vacation with their parents, Anaïs tags along with Elena as she explores the dreary seaside town. Elena meets Fernando, an Italian law student, who seduces her with promises of love, and the ever-watchful Anaïs bears witness to the corruption of her sister’s innocence.
Plot
Anaïs (Anaïs Reboux) and her older sister, Elena (Roxane Mesquida) are vacationing with their parents on the French seaside. Bored of staying in their vacation home, the two walk into town while discussing relationships and their virginity. Although Elena has been promiscuous, she is saving herself for someone who loves her, while heavy-set Anaïs thinks it is better to lose one's virginity to a "nobody" just to get it over with.
They meet an Italian law student, Fernando (Libero De Rienzo), at a cafe. While Elena flirts with him, Anaïs orders a banana split. Later, Fernando sneaks into the girls' bedroom for a liaison with Elena. Anaïs is awake and watches their entire interaction. After a conversation about Fernando's previous relationships with other women, Elena consents to have sex with him, but backs out at the last minute. Frustrated, Fernando pressures her through various means, including threatening to sleep with some other woman just to alleviate himself. Finally, Elena consents to anal sex as a "proof of love", although it is obviously a painful experience for her.
In the morning, Fernando asks for oral sex from Elena before he leaves, but Anaïs has had enough and tells them to let her sleep in peace. The next day, the girls and Fernando go to the beach. Anaïs sits in the ocean in her new dress and sings to herself while Elena and Fernando go off alone together. Later, as the girls are reminiscing about their childhood together back at the house, Elena reveals that Fernando has given her a mauve opal engagement ring while at the beach. That night, Elena gives up her virginity to Fernando as Anaïs silently cries on the other side of the room.
Fernando's mother comes to the house demanding her mauve opal ring back, which her son secretly took from her. Since their father has gone home early, the girls' mother must drive them back to their home outside of Paris. After a long day battling traffic, the three pull into a rest area to catch some sleep. During the night, a man with an axe suddenly breaks in the windshield, swings his axe against the head of Elena in the passenger seat, and strangles the mother in the driver's seat. Anaïs quietly leaves the back seat of the car, but the killer follows her into the nearby woods and rapes her.
In the morning, while the police are escorting her from the scene, Anaïs insists that she was not raped and that it was consensual, referring to her earlier intention to lose her virginity to someone who doesn't matter.
Controversy
The film was banned in Ontario by the Ontario Film Review Board in the fall of 2001 because the board objected to the film's representation of teenage sexuality. This ban was eventually overturned and the film played in several theatres in 2003.
