Diabolo Menthe

Kurys' impressive feature debut, based in autobiography, is a sensitive account of a year in the lives of two sisters - 13-year-old, introverted Anne, and outgoing 15-year-old Frédérique - in the early '60s. Without ever lapsing into melodrama, the film adopts a decidely un-nostalgic tone, lucidly charting the everyday oppressions of school life and the girls' difficult relationships with their parents - a separated Jewish couple - their friends and each other. Indeed, it's a harsh, unsentimental look at adolescence, with the '60s setting serving primarily to define the social and political context of the girls' rites of passage; at the same time, however, the film is invested with great warmth through Kurys' assured, sympathetic handling of her cast.