{"id":3157,"date":"2016-04-24T11:44:25","date_gmt":"2016-04-24T15:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=3157"},"modified":"2026-10-21T09:34:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T13:34:25","slug":"girlhood-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=3157","title":{"rendered":"Girlhood-2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Girlhood-2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director C\u00e9line Sciamma<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Karidja Tour\u00e9<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #398<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"80013602\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed April 24, 2016<\/p>\n

Grade: B<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girlhood (2015) is a coming-of-age French-language drama that follows a sixteen-year-old girl living in a poor area (the projects) just outside Paris.<\/p>\n

She faces numerous conflicts and tough decisions about how to live her life. She navigates school, gangs, and romance, alongside a troubled home life.<\/p>\n

Wisely, the film is directed a C\u00e9line Sciamma, which lends authenticity to the largely female issues discussed.<\/p>\n

For all its good intentions and some interesting nuances, the film suffers from a lack of grit and has a safe feel, making it less compelling than it could have been.<\/p>\n

I felt I was watching a glossy film rather than any harsh reality.<\/p>\n

Still, worth the effort.<\/p>\n

Marieme is a tall, gorgeous teenager living near Paris. She struggles academically and is rejected from attending high school, instead being sent on a vocational track to find a job.<\/p>\n

Her mother works long hours as an office cleaner, and Marieme’s abusive brother is in charge of the household. Marieme also has two younger sisters.<\/p>\n

Upset to learn she will not be attending high school, she is approached by a gang of girls, led by Lady, who asks her to go to the city with them.<\/p>\n

She agrees to join their gang when she realizes that her brother’s best friend, Ismael, whom she has a crush on, is friendly with the other girls.<\/p>\n

Marieme and the girls begin to pass the days by stealing, fighting, and terrorizing anyone in their path.<\/p>\n

They party in hotels and go from place to place. Marieme must ultimately decide if this is the life she wants.<\/p>\n

What I found most interesting about the film is its all-black cast. Sciamma (who ironically is white) felt that the female black population in Paris is underrepresented.<\/p>\n

This is accurate, and it scores points with me.<\/p>\n

I love the camaraderie among the girls. They always have each other’s backs, and when Marieme fights a rival girl to defend the recently beaten Lady, there is a sense of sisterhood that is appealing and is at the heart of the film.<\/p>\n

The film explores friendship, loyalty, and bonding.<\/p>\n

Most of the cast are either unknown actors or non-actors picked off the streets. As a result, the acting is surprisingly good for most novice or non-actors.<\/p>\n

The romance between Marieme and Ismael is another strong point. They share an undeniable attraction but are forced to keep their relationship secret.<\/p>\n

Marieme’s brother appears to run a boys’ gang and forbids anyone from being with his sister.<\/p>\n

The scenes shared between Marieme and Ismael are tender, sweet, and believable. They have a rooting factor.<\/p>\n

The positives are also Girlhood’s negatives. The film lacks real grit or dirt, and it plays the friendship and romantic elements safely.<\/p>\n

Everything\u00a0is glossy and bright.<\/p>\n

For example, two fight scenes occur: one between Lady and a rival girl, and one between Marieme and the rival girl. A group of spectators gathers in a circle, egging the girls on. They are in a hot, deserted parking lot.<\/p>\n

The scenes could have been brutal, bloody, and fierce. Instead, they are short, lack blood or bruising, and feel safe. When Marieme pulls out a knife, it is intended to cut the rival girl’s bra, not to stab her.<\/p>\n

This seems unrealistic and not how things would play out in an urban gang situation.<\/p>\n

And on a nitpicky level, why was the mother absent from the family life? Sure, she had a night job, but the film presented her as almost out of the picture.<\/p>\n

She tried to help Marieme get a job, but her busy schedule still caused so much turmoil.<\/p>\n

Also, the silly scene of the girls playing miniature golf added nothing to the plot and should have been dropped.<\/p>\n

Girlhood (2015) is a nice, albeit sweet, female coming-of-age gang story that might have been more intense, but the filmmakers chose a softer tone rather than a harsher one.<\/p>\n

It focuses mainly on bonding, friendship, and life choices rather than the realistic brutality it could have dealt with.<\/p>\n

Independent Spirit Award Nominations:\u00a0<\/strong>Best International Film<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Girlhood-2015 Director C\u00e9line Sciamma Starring Karidja Tour\u00e9 Scott’s Review #398 Reviewed April 24, 2016 Grade: B Girlhood (2015) is a coming-of-age French-language drama that follows a sixteen-year-old girl living in a poor area (the projects) just outside Paris. She faces numerous conflicts and tough decisions about how to live her life. She navigates school, gangs, … Continue reading Girlhood-2015<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[240,11649,192,442,35,213],"tags":[5340,5338,5339,12941,12942],"class_list":["post-3157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2015-movie-reviews","category-coming-of-age","category-dramas","category-french-films","category-foreignfilms","category-foreign-dramas","tag-assa-sylla","tag-celine-sciamma","tag-karidja-toure","tag-lindsay-karamoh","tag-marietou-toure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3157"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24880,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157\/revisions\/24880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}