Hair Under the Roses (2001)

The terrors and triumphs of burgeoning teenage sexuality are smartly decoded in this cunning feature film from Agnes Obedia and Jean-Julien Chervier. Roudoudou is a scrappy fourteen-year-old girl whose most fervent desire--to have large breasts like her mother--is sidetracked when she awakens one morning with a single enlarged breast. Her male counterpart in awkward hormonally infused wackiness is the long-tressed and nervous Romain. Romain and his best friend, Francis, are convinced that their mothers are secretly lesbians conspiring to sleep together, and thus must be seduced by their young sons. The madness only escalates, punctuated by wild animated dream sequences, hallucinatory teenage cruelties, and moments of brutal honesty. When Roudoudou falls for the older, devastatingly handsome but ultimately disinterested Paolo, her hopes for sexual fulfillment are seemingly crushed. But as Romain and Roudoudou converge, they forge a shy but excited love for each other and rush to usher each other into the rituals of sexuality. The two main characters are portrayed with equal parts ingenious honesty and breathtaking imagination, accurately crystallizing the nonsensical world and explosive energy of young lives on the verge of independence.

This film was screened as part of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2001 festival organized by The Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City.