Catherine Breillat is not the kind of girl who would suffer Judd Apatow. The French filmmaker, novelist and Professor of Auteur Cinema at the European Graduate School has often courted controversy for her films’ frank treatment of sexual themes. Her 1976 debut film, A Real Young Girl, was banned until 1999 because 1) the production went bankrupt and 2) controversy surrounding the shots of lead actress Charlotte Alexandra’s vulva. Alexandra was 20 years old at the time, her character 14.
In America, it seems like Breillat’s highest grossing movie, ~$730K, is 2003’s Fat Girl. You will not find Fat Girl or any of her other films on streaming or DVD Netflix. You will find Fat Girl on Amazon Instant Video—if you click through the disclaimer to show material with “explicit and adult themes.” You can also watch Fat Girl on Hulu or iTunes. But still the best place to catch films like Breillat’s is at the humble arts theater in your hometown. So you can be close to your fellow sex-obsessed intellectuals. That’s where I saw Abuse of Weakness, her latest, in downtown Chicago.
A Dessert for Constance/Un dessert pour Constance (Sarah Maldoror, 1981)
Two African street cleaners in Paris, Bokolo and Mamadou, find a cookbook thrown in the trash. Studying, they initiate themselves into the secrets of French cuisine. When their friend Bruno falls deeply ill, they need money to send him back home for his final days. Is their newfound expertise in the kitchen the answer? Sarah Maldoror’s comedy feature for television is a lighthearted, and at times deftly satirical comedy about how one person’s trash is another’s treasure, how culture is nurtured on the streets by the working class and marginalized, and the immigrant experience in France.
