An Easy Girl (Une fille facile) is a French language film steaming on Netflix. It’s a coming of age story written and directed by Rebecca Zlotowski. There are spoilers ahead.
An Easy Girl (Une fille facile) is set in the summer holidays in Cannes. Sixteen year old, working class, Naïma (Mina Farid) expects to use the summer to think about her future. She wants to try out for a play with her gay friend Dodo (‘Riley’ Lakdhar Dridi). She might try an internship as a chef in the kitchen of the hotel where her mother (Loubna Abidar) works.
Naïma’s older cousin arrives unannounced. Naïma looks up to her. Sofia (Zahia Dehar) is sexy and sensuous and brings expensive gifts. Sofia never has any money, not even 8 euros to pay for lunch. Naïma soon learns where the expensive items come from.
Sofia has Carpe diem tattooed on the small of her back. Naïma gets the same tattoo.
The two cousins walk along the dock, next to the big yachts. Sofia catches the eye of a wealthy Brazilian, Andres (Nuno Lopes), as he strums his guitar in his yacht. Sofia and Naïma are invited aboard. Soon Sofia and Andres are in bed together. Naïma is left with Philippe (Benoît Magimel), Philippe works for Andres. He takes a protective, fatherly interest in Naïma.
Naïma observes Sofia carefully. She’s evaluating everything – herself included. The next morning they leave the yacht and Sofia takes Naïma to a jewelry store. They pick out the most expensive items and charge them to Andres.
Naïma realizes how the glitz and glamour of Sofia’s life is obtained – and it’s not easy work.
This is a French film. Nudity and explicit sexuality abound. I hate to say this about a woman director, but I saw more of the male gaze than I wanted.
The cousins go on a yacht ride to Italy where they visit Calypso (Clotilde Courau). Calypso derides Sofia’s use of plastic surgery at such a young age when she’s naturally beautiful. Philippe tells Naïma that Calypso is dangerous, but doesn’t explain why. The visit makes you wonder exactly where Andres gets his money.
The summer fun is over when the cousins are thrown off the yacht. Sofia leaves town soon after.
But now Naïma knows what sort of life she wants for her future.
Neither Mina Farid nor Zahia Dehar are professional actors. Zahia Dehar became famous in France in a scandal and used that fame to launch a career as a celebrity. Mina Farid is especially interesting – her dark beauty is stunning. She has a calm persona in front of the camera.
Overall, this film didn’t offer much excitement or enlightenment. Not much happened, everything was very low key. Thematic elements weren’t verbalized or hard hitting. If I gave stars I’d give it 5 out of 10.
Here’s the trailer. Suitably blurred in spots. You can watch the film on Netflix.
Does An Easy Girl (Une fille facile) sound like a film you’d like?
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