Don't let the controversy fools you. Let me tell you this movie has a lot more than nude scenes. Actually it has a VERY DEEP meaning: It's a perfect tale visually beautiful and with a great score.
This is one of those rare films you want to stop in the first minutes because what is shown goes beyond you, but for some reason you keep watching. It leaves a mark on you. This film is not for everybody, not recommended for those close minded conservative people who think kids are completely innocent creatures with no sexual desire, no bad intentions, no nothing. I mean, you have to admit they are human beings too. Then you will be able to see what is in the core of this tale.
The story is about 3 adolescents who spend their holidays in a forest. I can't help finding these 3 characters highly stereotypical, but this is necessary. Actually this is how the film works, because you can find these stereotypes in almost every person:
Laura (Lara Wendel, 12): the lovely, sensitive and naive girl who is in love with someone who doesn't love her back, the girl who will do ANYTHING to be with the others, even if that means to be humiliated to death.
Fabrizio (Martin Loeb, 18): the screwed-up boy who controls other people deliberately using his strength and self-confidence superiority, the selfish boy who doesn't give a damn for anybody, the guy who is bad and enjoy it.
Silvia (Eva Ionesco, 11): the dream blonde coming from outer space, the arrogant and malicious girl who is aware of her extreme beauty and will use it to manipulate other people.
The acting could have been better, but if you have in count these 3 kids were the only characters who carried the entire movie on their shoulders they were great. Personally I think it could have been better to get a younger actor for the Fabrizio character, someone closer to the girls age. By the way, from these characters Silvia is maybe the least important but on the other hand it is the only one who keeps its feet on the ground. Silvia is not so innocent as Laura and neither so nuts as Fabrizio.
I will not extend too much about the story, since other posters have commented enough, but basically Fabrizio and Silvia spend all their days making fun of Laura and tormenting her through cruel games until the point of risking her life. Just to mention a couple, the scene where Laura is tied and with a snake crawling over her and the scene where she is being hunted by the other two bullies using REAL arrows! There are also cruel scenes with animals. All these scenes are raw, graphic, and really disturbing, way more disturbing than the sex scenes most people talk.
As for the sex scenes, actually most of them are precisely to show the cruelty of Fabrizio and Silvia towards Laura, and not to show sex itself. Since Laura loves the boy, Silvia and Fabrizio make love not only to enjoy themselves but to torture poor Laura. This movie has been banned in some locations considered as child pornography, while actually it is not. Yes, I admit the sex scenes are disturbing and could have been done not so graphically, but they are not pornographic. They appear nude but you will not see genital joint close-ups, erections, things you would expect in a real XXX film, and their moves/poses are clumsy because they are unexperienced and obviously not doing it for real. The boldest thing you see is two kids lying down nude one on the other and rubbing or a kiss near the female pubic area. Most of all is left to your mind, out of camera frame. Even kisses in mouth are simulated with the position of the heads. In fact, this film is not even erotic because the sex scenes are made in a kind of an angelical dream, not trying to arouse the audience.
Sadly many people cannot see beyond those sex scenes and are not able to discover the real meaning of the story: the real evil teenagers can be. Even some covers I have seen of this film make you think wrongly that this is a shallow erotic film. Actually this is a story about cruelty. You will feel sorry for Laura because she is the target, she is the third party, she is the one who always takes the back seat and is being hated with no reasons. But somehow near the end she is cruel too, hiding something important.
But I will stop spoiling. If you have the possibility, give this film a try because it really worths it. In fact, I could even say the story is good for teens, maybe not the film because it is very graphic, but the story itself teaches you a lot about life and why we are so cruel as adults. After all, we all were children once.
This is one of those rare films you want to stop in the first minutes because what is shown goes beyond you, but for some reason you keep watching. It leaves a mark on you. This film is not for everybody, not recommended for those close minded conservative people who think kids are completely innocent creatures with no sexual desire, no bad intentions, no nothing. I mean, you have to admit they are human beings too. Then you will be able to see what is in the core of this tale.
The story is about 3 adolescents who spend their holidays in a forest. I can't help finding these 3 characters highly stereotypical, but this is necessary. Actually this is how the film works, because you can find these stereotypes in almost every person:
Laura (Lara Wendel, 12): the lovely, sensitive and naive girl who is in love with someone who doesn't love her back, the girl who will do ANYTHING to be with the others, even if that means to be humiliated to death.
Fabrizio (Martin Loeb, 18): the screwed-up boy who controls other people deliberately using his strength and self-confidence superiority, the selfish boy who doesn't give a damn for anybody, the guy who is bad and enjoy it.
Silvia (Eva Ionesco, 11): the dream blonde coming from outer space, the arrogant and malicious girl who is aware of her extreme beauty and will use it to manipulate other people.
The acting could have been better, but if you have in count these 3 kids were the only characters who carried the entire movie on their shoulders they were great. Personally I think it could have been better to get a younger actor for the Fabrizio character, someone closer to the girls age. By the way, from these characters Silvia is maybe the least important but on the other hand it is the only one who keeps its feet on the ground. Silvia is not so innocent as Laura and neither so nuts as Fabrizio.
I will not extend too much about the story, since other posters have commented enough, but basically Fabrizio and Silvia spend all their days making fun of Laura and tormenting her through cruel games until the point of risking her life. Just to mention a couple, the scene where Laura is tied and with a snake crawling over her and the scene where she is being hunted by the other two bullies using REAL arrows! There are also cruel scenes with animals. All these scenes are raw, graphic, and really disturbing, way more disturbing than the sex scenes most people talk.
As for the sex scenes, actually most of them are precisely to show the cruelty of Fabrizio and Silvia towards Laura, and not to show sex itself. Since Laura loves the boy, Silvia and Fabrizio make love not only to enjoy themselves but to torture poor Laura. This movie has been banned in some locations considered as child pornography, while actually it is not. Yes, I admit the sex scenes are disturbing and could have been done not so graphically, but they are not pornographic. They appear nude but you will not see genital joint close-ups, erections, things you would expect in a real XXX film, and their moves/poses are clumsy because they are unexperienced and obviously not doing it for real. The boldest thing you see is two kids lying down nude one on the other and rubbing or a kiss near the female pubic area. Most of all is left to your mind, out of camera frame. Even kisses in mouth are simulated with the position of the heads. In fact, this film is not even erotic because the sex scenes are made in a kind of an angelical dream, not trying to arouse the audience.
Sadly many people cannot see beyond those sex scenes and are not able to discover the real meaning of the story: the real evil teenagers can be. Even some covers I have seen of this film make you think wrongly that this is a shallow erotic film. Actually this is a story about cruelty. You will feel sorry for Laura because she is the target, she is the third party, she is the one who always takes the back seat and is being hated with no reasons. But somehow near the end she is cruel too, hiding something important.
But I will stop spoiling. If you have the possibility, give this film a try because it really worths it. In fact, I could even say the story is good for teens, maybe not the film because it is very graphic, but the story itself teaches you a lot about life and why we are so cruel as adults. After all, we all were children once.