Hair Under the Roses (2000)

Excellent adaptation.

Absolutely Brilliant!

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Obadia & Chervier's film confronts teenage sexuality through the analysis of contemporary society's demands. Every aspect of life demands now utter success; and sex has become yet another facet in which one must either triumph or perish.The film focuses mainly in two characters: Roudoudou, a lightheaded and cheerful girl who is preoccupied with sexual matters that no one can answer plainly. School education is not fit to the inquiries of young minds; the expert's opinion (in this case her gynecologist) is too cold and detached from the actual sexual act. The other character is 15-years-old Romain, a seemingly reclusive boy whose only friend is the son of her mother's lesbian partner.Our vision of sex has evolved and devolved throughout time. Sex has been interpreted from a healthy perspective of tolerance in Ancient Greece and in the first two centuries of the Roman Empire, to a more restricted or condemned approach in medieval times; it has even been a force that needed to be subjugated and canalized into the path of prosperity and production in the Victorian Age. Nonetheless, sex is today as complex as ever, perhaps even more complicated as this film suggests.Jacques Lacan's followers have theorized that in contemporary society the individual has become the main and sole purpose of the being, whereas in past times a social group or even a shared idea would have been of paramount relevance. The individual, of course, must be defined negating the other. Thus, contemporary approach to sex consists in nullifying the otherness of the sexual partner. Sex is no longer an intimate or powerful moment, but rather the reification of the individual's Lacanian imperative of jouissance. The film provides more than enough arguments to uphold this analysis.As philosopher Alan Badieu explains, we live in a society of symptom and simulacrum. Sex is a powerful act and as such is deemed dangerous, so the only way to get rid of it is through simulacrum. Certain forms of contemporary pornography nurture the simulacrum to the point it becomes more important than sex itself. In "Du Poil Sous les Roses", the viewer witnesses yet another form of simulacrum, although a saner one, in two scenes: during the first one Roudoudou overhears his brother having "sex phone" with her best friend. In the second one, Roudoudou catches Romain in the middle of a "sex call". Although in the movie the strength of the simulacrum lingers on so fiercely that sex is replaced and no real intercourse takes place (in fact sexual intercourse between the boy and the girl will become an excruciating moment they cannot surmount easily). The symptom symbolizes the discontents of civilization, and as such here the heterosexual normative works only to seclude Romain and his friend from accepting motherly lesbianism or even homosexuality. As it can be seen in the mutual masturbation scene between the two boys, homosexuality is quickly dismissed as a valid option. What do the directors try to tell us with this? Perhaps that in a world saturated with information we no longer seek the truth, we just comfortably adapt ourselves to the simulacrum laid ahead in front of us. Even after all the stimulus teenagers currently get, their knowledge about sex still doesn't amount to much.

Neither conventional and visibly commercial like the American films on the same subject nor intoxicated with quizzical symbolism in the art movie style(which,even dealing with the earthy,violent age of puberty can often not refrain from turning it into an intricate parable). Nothing of this in here;just average french teens laid bare,with all their loads of desire and frustration. For instance:a 15-year old girl is eagerly awaiting...her breast growth,while two boys are persistently preoccupied with...boys'stuff. Roudoudou(brilliantly acted by Julie Durand,which really looks like in her puberty years,even with all the ugliness and less feminine looks puberty tempoarily brings up,in and to the female body;unlike in the American Pie series and other such sort of Hollywood products where the female characters are all portrayed by adult and extremely gorgeous actresses,suggesting that every average American girl is already in her puberty a starlet or society-lady)is desperately seeking sex,being tormented by the eagerness to lose her virginity,while Romain(Alexis Rocoult,another very young and very convincing actor,acting naturally,without the pretense of high-minded art)is caught up in homo-erotic games with his best friend,while their mothers live together in a supposedly lesbian love-affair, the boys try to reform them : each one of them is trying to seduce his best pal's mother. Sharp,ironically and witty the film displays wild parties,homo-and heterosexuality-in its various ways of expression,dirty talk,impossible love,visits at the shrink and the gynecologist,never pornographic or didactic. Eventually Roudoudou and Romain get together and have sex,but their relation ship is not romantically idealized(like American cinema did since Splendor in The Grass and Love Story down to American Pie 1-3),not even the sexual chemistry between them is excellent,we can only guess if they'll stick together in future(a very intelligent open ending,even in real life we can't certainly predict how a relationship is going to evolve,especially not at such a moody,changing age). My compliments to French(and generally European)cinema:puberty is the age where most of us come closest to sexuality,hormones,homo-(and every kind of)eroticism,body fluids,confusing feelings and this movie shows everything.Paricullarly interesting(and awkward for anyone who isn't French)is the way non-sexual nudity is generously displayed:in one scene you can see Roudoudou's entire family(father,mother,brother)naked in the bathroom,all attending to very natural functions,yet without seaming offensive or incestuous,just natural-they don't do it,just one takes a shower,another one shaves,another one... Julie Durand did a good job as a frustrated teen:both her looks and her acting style somewhat reminding of Betty Davis as the submissive,neurotic,unattractive Charlotte Vale in Now,Voyager or Matilda Ziegler as Miss Irma Gobb Mr.Bean's(very ambiguous&androgynous)girlfriend.

This is about the 15-year-old sexuality, which of course includes shyness, uncertainty and envy of the "experienced". We have seen just too many American films about the subject. The French approach has more meat, more body liquids, but not necessarily more heart.Julie Durand is good, making a girl who hasn't had menstruation yet into a kind of longing sex-monster. But there is no real compassion here, no sensitivity. Although un-experienced, the characters look the opposite in many ways. It's unrealistic.

Ah the troubling years of adolescence! This very interesting movie shows us how Raudoudou deals with her teenage years. She's looking towards THE first time, with anxiety. Parallel to her story, two teenage boys own adventures on the trail of sexual experiments. Some parts are very funny, some are touching. Julie Durand is very good as Raudoudou.Out of 100, I gave it 75. That's good for **½ out of **** stars.Seen in Toronto, at the Canada Square Famous Players Cinemas, during the French-film festival Cinéfranco, on April 8th, 2002.