Does anyone get 'Fat Girl'?
Does Anyone Get ‘Fat Girl’? Gosh. What a question. As someone who went through adolescence with a sister just 16 months younger than she, I feel this film is incredibly direct/ remarkably candid. This film depicts the seesaw that exists in a young girl’s mind growing up- particularly when postulating about the irreversible process of “becoming a woman”. Through Elena, it portrays the idealist/romantic anxiety that a young girl hopes to experience through lovemaking. Through Anaïs, the process of being consciously destined for a ‘realistic’ approach and understanding of sex.
Beyond the mere process of defloweration, the film touches on the power struggle of adolescence through sibling-hood. Young Elena is dominated by older Fernando. In this relationship, she has little control. She is referred to as ‘little girl’, seduced, obediently and submissively manipulated. She, in turn, dominates her younger sister, as Anaïs is the only obedient “bitch” Elena has. Though Elena feels she is maturing, it is only because she has Anaïs to compare herself. She loathes the “dead weight” of having a younger sister as her vacation’s baggage, yet she needs Anaïs to differentiate herself. She needs Anaïs’ eyes to look into in order for her to see her past and subsequently her present self. To the outside world, Elena is young and small, but within the relationship with her sister, she dominates.
Beyond that-
What a shame that truly honest films are the ones that people say “push the envelope”. Is the truth that outrageous?
power struggle of adolescence through sibling-hood
I think the ending is saying that sibling rivalry can be devastating and that there is a lot of denial involved
Elana denies the rational approach and Anaïs denies the romantic approach to life.
…Anaïs is the only obedient “bitch” Elena has…..within the relationship with her sister, she (Anaïs) dominates
I think there is a dualistic power struggle, not a “bitchistic” power struggle.
Robert, I agree with both of your comments.
The power struggle between Elena and Anaïs is certainly more complicated than simply ‘bitchistic’.
i love this film. its real, its raw. it’s truthful. You can feel the emotions coming though the screen. Its tragic but beautifully played out.
I just watched FAT GIRL on MUBI.
As a visual artist, I was struck by the scenes themselves, namely the use of color. In nearly every scene that wasn’t totally muted out to gray, there was a Holy Trinity of yellow, green and orange; as prevalent as mirepoix in French cuisine. I found myself watching the color composition as much as the story. One unbalanced scene just hung there, just yellow and green, until an orange semi-truck whizzed by. Cut.
The tenderest moment? The two sister lying in bed, stroking, laughing….the only real example of erotic sensuality juxtaposed with their intense dislike for one other. love/hate/love/hateAs far as the ending goes. Shocking and brutal. But that is exactly how your life can change, in an instant, like a head-on car crash or a scarf pulled tight around Isadora Duncan’s neck.
I think Justin got it just right with the family dynamics.
I don’t understand the several people who have said they liked the movie until the final scene. It was the final scene that brought the entire film together. It (or perhaps even the final two lines) is, if you ask me, where the brilliance in the film lies. I didn’t like the film for no other reason than I found it disturbing (meaning I appreciate it, I just don’t /like/ it), but that alone made me glad to have seen it—incredibly thought provoking.
The final scene is not the best in the movie but it has the most meaning. On one hand I agree with the “they were both raped” theory but on the other hand I see the fat girl as the substitute of her sister. She is chronically wise , that why she tells her father to believe her if he wants to , and if he doesn’t it couldn’t bother her less whilst her sister was fussing over the thought that her father might find out. The fat girl is taking her sisters place and following into her footsteps in every aspect of her being.
The final scene is not the best in the movie but it has the most meaning. On one hand I agree with the “they were both raped” theory but on the other hand I see the fat girl as the substitute of her sister. She is chronically wise , that why she tells her father to believe her if he wants to , and if he doesn’t it couldn’t bother her less whilst her sister was fussing over the thought that her father might find out. The fat girl is taking her sisters place and following into her footsteps in every aspect of her being.
The final scene is not the best in the movie but it has the most meaning. On one hand I agree with the “they were both raped” theory but on the other hand I see the fat girl as the substitute of her sister. She is chronically wise , that why she tells her father to believe her if he wants to , and if he doesn’t it couldn’t bother her less whilst her sister was fussing over the thought that her father might find out. The fat girl is taking her sisters place and following into her footsteps in every aspect of her being.
The final scene is not the best in the movie but it has the most meaning. On one hand I agree with the “they were both raped” theory but on the other hand I see the fat girl as the substitute of her sister. She is chronically wise , that why she tells her father to believe her if he wants to , and if he doesn’t it couldn’t bother her less whilst her sister was fussing over the thought that her father might find out. The fat girl is taking her sisters place and following into her footsteps in every aspect of her being.
The final scene is not the best in the movie but it has the most meaning. On one hand I agree with the “they were both raped” theory but on the other hand I see the fat girl as the substitute of her sister. She is chronically wise , that why she tells her father to believe her if he wants to , and if he doesn’t it couldn’t bother her less whilst her sister was fussing over the thought that her father might find out. The fat girl is taking her sisters place and following into her footsteps in every aspect of her being.
The final scene is not the best in the movie but it has the most meaning. On one hand I agree with the “they were both raped” theory but on the other hand I see the fat girl as the substitute of her sister. She is chronically wise , that why she tells her father to believe her if he wants to , and if he doesn’t it couldn’t bother her less whilst her sister was fussing over the thought that her father might find out. The fat girl is taking her sisters place and following into her footsteps in every aspect of her being.
Just saw this and I also struggled with the ending a bit. It almost seems as if the scene IS in her head—that this is a strange wish-fulfillment or depressive expectation of things to come. But it does still work in the ways mentioned above by Justin (long lost Justin), and either way it’s a very interesting film. Best Briellet I’ve seen yet.
Love it, love it, love it.
Quoting from above:
“As a visual artist, I was struck by the scenes themselves, namely the use of color. In nearly every scene that wasn’t totally muted out to gray, there was a Holy Trinity of yellow, green and orange; as prevalent as mirepoix in French cuisine. I found myself watching the color composition as much as the story. One unbalanced scene just hung there, just yellow and green, until an orange semi-truck whizzed by. Cut.”
And people wonder why the hell I shake my head at the level of pretentious bullshit people fabricate about French films.
This is exactly the sort of trash my “parody” threads mean to lampoon. And some of you say you don’t “get it”.
Textbook example quoted above. Half-way through I thought it was a joke until I realised the poster was NOT kidding.
Say it with me now: “as prevalent as mirepoix in French cuisine”.
I swear one day I’m going to use that line when describing a film to someone and (a) keep a straight face while doing so and (b) have the other person take me totally seriously and appear genuinely wrapped in what I am saying.
Bonus points for me if I recite the line in front of a Q and A panel and nobody on the panel pulls a weird “what the fuck?” face.
I think “Fat Girl” had a different title here in Australia, so I wasn’t sure what film was being discussed at first, but yes, I have seen it, just last year actually.
I don’t get the hype about it. It’s a dreadful little film, always looks like it’s about to go somewhere then aborts itself. It’s not nearly as bad as “Anatomy of Hell”, mind you.
The best thing about the film is the tall skinny gal—she ought to be doing Swedish softcore, a la Marie Liljedahl, not wasting her time with pretentious French bullshit.
I’m glad the ending has been mentioned—it’s like Catherine B. tries way too hard to shock us, it just felt so phony. So the fat girl resents her sister for being skinny—yeah, so what? That’s your film?
Oh, but she used the Holy Trinity of yellow, orange, green.
Remember the thread about where you “trick yourself” into liking a film?
MUBI alas has far too many people who will “trick themselves” into finding observations like A.C.’s “profound” because they go out of their way to find value in something that SOUNDS clever and knowing. So they are not left out.
Not me, kiddo.
“The best thing about the film is the tall skinny gal—she ought to be doing Swedish softcore, a la Marie Liljedahl, not wasting her time with pretentious French bullshit.
I’m glad the ending has been mentioned—it’s like Catherine B. tries way too hard to shock us, it just felt so phony. So the fat girl resents her sister for being skinny—yeah, so what? That’s your film?"
That is the kind of response I’d expect from someone satirizing the dislike from the film. You literally could not have gotten further from the point of the film if you watched it with your back turned to the screen and had earplugs on.
Also, you need to learn what pretentious means. You’re the only one exuding it in mass quantity on this site.
“Satirizing the dislike from the film”?
I’m parodying someone’s adoration of it. Not lampooning someone’s dislike of it.
Or at least I would be doing a spoof, if the post I quoted was not a parody of itself. I didn’t even have to try this time.
I know what pretentious means. I also made sense of the colossal grammatical jumble that was your post.
Give me an elephant stamp!
I’d say the best way to watch this film WOULD be with one’s back turned to the screen, with earplugs inserted.
Please, Wu Tang, just because I don’t go for Catherine B’s shock shlock drivel, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t paying attention to the film.
I also deserve credit for staying with this film even when my conservative near-70-year-old mother walked into the room during the less family-friendly scenes.
MIREPOIX!
Because when you see a girl getting bashed and raped in a pretentious French art film, you think of celery, carrots and onions!
(And it looks green, orange and WHITE to me—hmm, maybe it’s yellow once you butter it).
“I’m parodying someone’s adoration of it. Not lampooning someone’s dislike of it.”
Yeah, that’s what I said.
You look as if you’re one of the “pretentious” elites making fun of those that don’t “get” it by just making the stupidest possible comment on this film. The pathetic thing is you think that’s actually decent criticism…
“I know what pretentious means. I also made sense of the colossal grammatical jumble that was your post.”
Obviously, you don’t.
Is plain English really that hard for you to understand?
I was talking about Fat Girl the other day and told this girl that I thought Fat Girl was a funny joke where the fat girl’s sister gets these guys to fawn over her and the fat girl longs for to have someone to go after her and when it finally happens, her family is killed and the murderer forces himself on her and afterwards when the police arrive she tells them over and over again “I wasn’t raped” because she really wanted to have a sexual encounter and any sexual encounter. It made me laugh at least.
RLS In Mubiland
Saw this courtesy of the free auteurs screening from the Notebook link to the Stella Artois film festival. I had been wanting to see a Breillat film and this one in particular. It is my first Breillat. Note: this posting assumes a familiarity with the film so possible Spoilers for those who haven’t seen it.
I am afraid the ending felt contrived and spoiled the film for me. I appreciate the individual takes on the film above, especially Justin’s B’s highly original posting. Although I thought the film handled the sister’s obvious symbiotic relationship in a fairly realistic manner, especially in the scene where they are both looking in the mirror and reflecting on how connected they are on some deeper level, I found the dramatic switch in the ending completely out of character with the tone of the rest of the film. Here the film seemed to forsake realism and a frank depiction of adolescent sexuality with a completely off-the-wall shock segment that really didn’t belong in the film.
Others have mentioned how we are ‘set-up’ for something like a car crash, with the mother’s erratic driving and weaving in between a series of large trucks. Yet the ending Breillat chose to impose seems only designed for shock value and to provide some pointed references to Anaïs own comments re how she would prefer to lose her virginity to a stranger. Her reaction to the rape seems bizarre in the context of all that went before. It is as if she has lost all feeling and Breillat all sympathy for her own characters.
I could only see the ending working somewhat if this were done as an imaginary sequence in Anaïs’s head – a sort of wish fulfilment of the frustrations she has experienced at the hands of her uncaring mother and self-centered sister. Otherwise, it is as if Briellat chooses to hit us over the head – much like Elena – to hammer home her points. This takes all the subtlety out of the film.
It is the type of over-the-top sensationalism that I would expect from a Hollywood hack who just wants a cheap trick at the end to ‘shock’ the audience. I would not expect anyone who is trying to bring an element of realism and understanding to a complex theme to use such a cheap device. I am afraid that ending lost me and any respect I had for Breillat’s own frankness and handling of the material. It felt exploitive which is one thing I don’t like in any film. I won’t be rushing to see anything else from her, if this is typical of her approach.