Themes: Life in the Arts, Bohemian Life, Twentysomething Life
Main Cast: Romane Bohringer, Elsa Zylberstein, Florence Thomassin, Nils Tavernier, Stephane Slima
Release Year: 1994
Country: FR/NL/BE
Run Time: 127 minutes
Plot
Two women who were best friends since childhood come to realize the toll that adulthood has taken on their understanding of each other in this acclaimed French drama. Mina Tannenbaum (Romane Bohringer) and Ethel Benegui (Elsa Zylberstein) first met when they were ten years old. As young Jewish girls growing up in Paris, both felt like outcasts among their schoolmates, and they began to bond as fellow outsiders. That's about all they have in common. As a child, Ethel was a pudgy extrovert from an upper-middle class family who was eager to make friends, while slender and serious-minded Mina preferred to follow her own path and keep her own counsel, and she was raised under less privileged circumstances. Mina and Ethel have remained close friends as adults, but they are still as different as night and day. Mina, still an intelligent iconoclast, has made a name for herself as an artist, while Ethel happened into a career as a pop culture journalist. Ethel has had a number of unsatisfying relationships with men, while Mina is usually too afraid to approach the men she's attracted to. And while both Ethel and Mina value each other's friendship, in time they begin to realize how little they have in common -- and they provide each other with as much aggravation as comfort. Mina Tannenbaum was the debut feature for writer and director Martine Dugowson; it earned her a Cesar Award nomination (the French Oscar) for "Best First Film." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Mina Tannenbaum and Ethel Benegui are two Jewish girls living in Paris. They were born on the same day, 5 April 1958, at the Rothschild Hospital, Mina just before Ethel. They first meet when they are seven years old. As their religion makes them feel like outsiders at school, they form a friendship as a result, despite having nothing else in common. Ethel is extroverted and comes from a middle-class family, while Mina is introverted and comes from a lower class background. Their friendship continues as they grow up, but as adults they start to drift apart. Mina becomes an artist and although she finds men attractive, she is afraid to approach them. Ethel meanwhile becomes a journalist specializing in popular culture, and finds herself in a string of relationships that prove unsatisfying. They soon realize how their differences have put a strain on their relationship.
