punishmentpark Two young girls become heavily inspired by the death & doom rhetorics of their local priest (and some private lecture) as they witness the false values at their Catholic girl school. They decide they belong to Satan and they will do his bidding in the upcoming summer vacation... Things get way out of hand, but it takes a while before they are actually in such big trouble that they themselves actually see no other way out than a theatrical suicide.'Mais ne nous...' is a bold and naughty film, though Jeanne Goupil and Catherine Wagener were respectively 21 and 19 years old at the time. Their acting may not always be flawless, but it comes across as spontaneous and sincere. Following these two teenage girls liberating themselves from social and religious chains, one will more than once feel uneasy at their unflinching manners, but still this a unique and creative little tale that ought to be seen by every emo, goth or other alternative human spirit out there today.9 out of 10.

Scott LeBrun This jaw dropping drama from France and director Joel Seria is sleazy and exploitative enough to understand all too well why it would get banned for blasphemy. The girls in the leads were older than what they were playing, but that doesn't make some of their scenes any less uncomfortable. His basic story of innocence allowing itself to be corrupted has a great deal of impact, especially since that innocence never completely goes away; these two girls remain pretty naive about the things that they do, and ultimately panic when they think that all will be discovered. This is all shot in a pretty straightforward way, and it's acted in an awfully convincing manner.Anne (brunette Jeanne Goupil) and Lore (blonde Catherine Wagener) are two girls, barely into their teens, who meet in a Catholic school and become intrigued with reading material that has been deemed forbidden. They get it into their heads to renounce God and devote themselves to Satan. Determined that their friendship survive no matter what, they start indulging in all sorts of bad behaviour, teasing and tormenting various older men. They cross a line when their attempts to seduce a motorist (Bernard Dheran) end badly.The uninitiated may well come to believe that, based on the films' reputation, that sleaze is all it has to offer, but it's also a tragic and upsetting story of adolescent curiosity. Certainly it's disturbing to watch as these kids commit arson, engage in acts of animal cruelty, and flaunt their bodies in front of men. The music by Claude Germain & Dominique Ney is haunting, there is a very literate quality to some of the dialogue, and the film does have a beautiful look courtesy of the cinematographer, Marcel Combes. It's also clear that Seria is critical of the Catholic church and is commenting on the idle rich as well.Once you see that disturbing finale, it will be pretty hard to forget it.This may play to a fairly limited audience but they're sure to find it worth viewing.Eight out of 10.

lazarillo This obscure French film, still unavailable in English, is a more fictionalized and much more exploitative version of the same real-life murder later covered in Peter Jackson's "Heavenly Creatures". The two girls in this movie, however, are decidedly less sympathetic than the heroines of the later movie and they commit not only murder, but every form of religious sacrilege, as well as some unforgivable cruelty to some birds belonging to a poor, retarded handyman. It is thus pretty hard to feel much sympathy toward them (even if I could understand most of what they were saying).The two girls are also decidedly younger than their juicy counterparts in "Heavenly Creatures" and the scenes of them prancing around in their underwear or one of the nymphets deliberately enticing a much older man and nearly being raped TWICE make for some decidedly uncomfortable viewing. To the movie's credit these scenes are obviously intended to shock and disturb much more than titillate (and anyone who finds themselves being turned on by them probably has a lot bigger problems than this movie). The ending is very memorable and truly shocking. I would kind of like to watch this movie with English or Spanish subtitles, but I'm not really sure I could sit through it again.

dbdumonteil The title is borrowed from a Christian prayer "Pater Noster" (Our Father) ,the last line of which is put into the negative form.That speaks volumes about the anti-Christian atmosphere of the whole movie. Something like Luis Bunuel on electric shock treatment.Two girls ,students in a severe Catholic school,rebel and do very nasty things .Stunning ending when,after reciting a Beaudelaire poem ,the two girlies set fire to themselves.The movie was theatrically released in 1972,but never never broadcast on TV,so I had never the opportunity to see it again.Its subjects (lesbianism,murders,sacrileges)were too much for the time and I wonder if the movie has worn well.Joel Seria 's other movies were watchable ("Charlie et ses deux nénettes")but none of them was as outrageous as his first one.