michael-1151 The pace was slow - but that's fine. Life as a teenager can be slow and drawn out, teenage summers last at least double as long as those in later life. Isild Le Besco as Gwen was superficially transparent, boys, clothes, sunglasses, her friendship with tomboy, Lise; but that was the problem; superficiality. There were no long, lingering, artistic longshots of the resort, beachlife, metaphorical flowers blooming or as in the case of Gwen and Lise's relationship, getting frazelled and decaying in the hot sun. The boys were just adjuncts, there was no character development, because they were given no characters.The implied sensuality of the two girls' relationship was only hinted at, as was the nature of the relationship of Lise's two sisters, briefly filmed together in the bath, one washing the other's back, possibly a prelude to a more frontal association, sufficient, anyway, for Lise to take her grandmother shopping to avoid any possible embarrassment.Had the girls changed perceptions, desires and interests during their last summer together been properly depicted, had the boys been human, had there been a little impish humour, this could have been a minor gem, or a gem about two minors. As it is, the acting was proficient (it's amazing Karen Alyx - Lise - was 21 when she played the role, she seemed so much a teen) the direction by Anne-Sophie Birot, adequate, but very much a woman's perspective, including the integrity of the nudity. But the ending was unnecessarily shallow; the girls should have just had a catfight and video'd it for You Tube, that would have been more realistic, although less French. Maybe You Tube wasn't around in the year 2000. It should have been, the film needed it.

herecomesrandall This movie was doing so well. But the ending just killed it dead.Basically the story is about these two teenage girls that are summer friends. But the summer the movie takes place in, the one girl Lise can't make it cause of family issues. Or money or something like that. The other girl, Gwen's parents are also having family issues. Money and the such. Her dad is lazy, blah blah blah. during this summer apart Gwen is growing up, getting with boys, smoking, etc, etc. Everything to this point is fine and dandy. I was enjoying the build of the characters and I like how European films are so much more open then American films. But in anycase all that is ruined by the stupid and pointless ending.(Spoiler alert!!) Lise finally makes it down to the beach house to stay with Gwen. All is well with the world for about 10 minutes. Then Gwen and her boyfriend are having sex with Lise in the room, so Lise trys to join in. It is implied a lot during the movie that this friendship IS deeper or can be deeper then just two friends. But at this point you see that Gwen is not interested. She slaps Lise, and the movie losses all sense from that point on. Not because Gwen is upset, but where the filmmakers go from there. They fight, they hate each other, Gwen wants Lise to leave. And instead of just having her leave, or even having them talk about it, they decide to go and have Lise start making out with Gwen's dad(why in every movie about teenage girls do the dads and older men all have to be sexual demons)Gwen's dad is into it until he gets her top off and realizes he shouldn't be doing this.("OHHH, now you realize it, moron") Lise is upset, and does what ever 15 year old girl does when she gets rejected by her best friends dad. She pushes him down the stairs and kills him. Then Gwen comes home finds the body, and Lise runs away. Credits role. I have no idea what the point of that ending was. What they were trying to say. But it killed a pretty good and open effort on the lives of two teenage girls. Far more open and realistic then most Hollywood fodder. But that ending was just so stupid.

lowood2000 The film lacked direction - where were we going? I would have preferred further exploration of the sexual tension between Lise and Gwen. What were all the erotic/romantic letters from Gwen all about? Once Lise shows up, Gwen treats her bad. The viewer had been led to believe that a certain amount of sexual attraction existed, but I never saw it at all, and that is unfortunate. It would have given an average film an "edge" over other coming of age stories.

rlcsljo Was this supposed to be the french "Marny". I don't know, I just know that the lead girl was pretty boring. When her girlfriend finally showed up, it was too late to save the film.I never could figure out where anyone was coming from, except the father and he was portrayed as being unsympathetic.The mother needed a bigger role, as the director found out too late.