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Fat Girl


FAT GIRL
(2001, Breillat)



"No one would think we're sisters. lt's true. We don't take after anyone. It's like we're born of ourseIves."

Fat Girl follows the relationship of sisters, Anaïs and Elena (Anaïs Pingot and Roxanne Mesquida) as they each face their respective coming-of-age issues and sexual awakening in very different ways. The contrast between both is the central focus of this drama from Catherine Breillat.

As Elena herself says in the above quote, they are very much different. Anaïs is 12-year old, "chubby", and leaning more to the shy/introvert side albeit with a bitter cynicism to her, while Elena is 15-year old, skinny, and bolder in her approach to men, with a certain dose of wickedness. But as "daring" as Elena presents herself, she is actually waiting for the right man to lose her virginity. Anaïs, on the other hand, says she wants her first time to be "with nobody. I don't want a guy bragging he had me first."

The film extends that juxtaposition also to how supporting characters approach and treat the sisters. From Elena's new "boyfriend" (Liberto de Rienzo) to a key character in the last act, we are left to wonder on the differences and similarities between both treatments, and how much lies, deceit, and violence play into the "game".

It is the last act what might separate the film from being a masterpiece to some or a disappointment to others; the ones that love it from those that might hate it. It is most definitely one that's filled of unexpected tension, and a twist that feels completely out of left field (but is it?). Regardless of where you fall, I give Breillat heavy props for unapologetically throwing it out and just let the chips fall where they may.

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