Review of Fat Girl (2001) by Christopher P — 02 May 2008

Shocking, shattering film about the complexities of adolescent sexual desire. France's "bad girl" Catherine Breillat has made her most accessible (and finest) film here. She perfectly and realistically captures the relationship between her teenage protagonist sisters and their quest to satisfy their curiosities about sex.

Breillat, to her extreme credit, is absolutely merciless in depicting what can result when fantasy and belief become reality. And, as if to instigate an intellectual debate, she provocatively posits that the ghastly events in the ending are, in fact, not "tragedy" at all, but a kind of wish fulfillment.