Search - 36 Fillette on DVD

Awful DVD

Randy Buck | 01/31/2002

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The film may be worth seeing, but this DVD is of the LOWEST imaginable quality and I strongly recommend you avoid buying it. It is clearly copied from a VHS tape: the subtitles are blurry and cannot be removed from the screen, and the video quality is even worse than a good VHS tape in that the image is excessively grainy and has scratches and dust throughout. Finally, and even more troubling, it is a FULLSCREEN transfer, not a widescreen transfer. I notice that IMDb claims the DVD is 1.66 aspect ratio, but my DVD (purchased Jan 2002) is definitely not."

Good film, terrible transfer

Randy Buck | Brooklyn, NY USA | 09/02/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Fox Lorber seems determined to make viewing their DVD transfers hard work. Their murky, dim DVDs are particularly frustrating, since many of their titles are truly wonderful foreign films. This picture, 36 FILLETTE, is touted as a "French LOLITA," but in many ways, is more reminiscent of [movie title] The young heroine has a grating perverse streak (only blind-and-deaf lust can explain why her older suitor doesn't bind and gag her mid-tirade), but she's nonetheless touching and real; all her anger and venom seem mere cover for a palpable sense of longing. Director Briellat, as usual, rushes into areas of female sexuality where angels fear to tread, here with moving results. The heroine's sly smile in the film's final frame's earned, and you're glad for her. Persevere through this lousy transfer; the picture's worth it."

Transcends the American brat style

Dennis Littrell | SoCal | 07/08/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a love story off the beaten track clearly in the tradition of Louis Malle and Francois Truffaut, told without prudishness or gratuitous violence.The title refers to a children's dress size that the 14-year-old lead, Lili, played with snap by Delphine Zentout, is bursting out of. Billed as a "French Lolita," Zentout is not all that fetching at first glance. She's a chubbette with light skin and thick black hair and not exactly pretty. But she has intriguing eyes and a saucy way about her.Lili is "discovering" her sexuality, but won't let herself be impregnated. The playboy, played with grace and economy by Etienne Chicot, falls in love with her in spite of himself and "tolerates" her reluctance while being partially satisfied in other ways, one of which we used to call a "cold f..." They are a believable match because sexually they are equal: she precocious, he experienced.Catherine Beillet directs without sentimentality while guiding Zentout to an interpretation that transcends the American brat style and leads us to a thoughtful view of feminine sexuality."

A French Lolita (Or an attempt)

J. E. Davis | NC | 06/15/2000

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is the story of a young french girl rebelling against her family while on a french camping trip (which is basically like staying in a trailer park) near the beach. In the film she gets caught up with an older man and sends him, herself and her brother, on a roller coaster of emotion with this "taboo" relationship.Though the plot behind the film is good, I find it to be not well executed. You watch the movie (which is rather short) and you get to the end and are left thinking, "what was the point?" or "why?". It lacks the basic beauty that is usually found it French films, and it lacks substance. Also, the casting was not done very well. You watch a girl who is supposed to be a somewhat innocent 14 year old virgin, and she looks and acts much older. Perhaps it's just me, and my friends, I don't know.Overall, I give this film two stars because of one because it is watchable, and because of the effort. It's not one of the worst French films ever, but it is very, VERY far from being one of the best."