Mes Petites Amoureuses

After The Mother and the Whore, Eustache turns his attention here to pubescence in provincial France. The tone is somewhat reminiscent of Malle (Le Souffle au Coeur, Lacombe Lucien) in its attempt at an unsentimental depiction of the sexual awakening of a 13-year-old boy; but ultimately it's more tough-minded, recognising as it does the effects of class and social status on the boy's development. More important is the continual stress on his essential aloneness in coming to terms with sexual experience; he rarely smiles, and finally comes across somewhat like a Bresson protagonist. A minor irritation is the relentless accumulation of short scenes, some with very little to add.