'GIRLHOOD' FILM CRITICS
The cool kids from Bishop Challoner School put their film specs on and analysed Céline Sciamma's Girlhood. If you're interested, we interviewed Sciamma herself, as well as the lead actress Karidja Touré.
Find out about our fantastic schools activities (organised by Agathe the superstar) right here.
Aryam from Bishop Challoner:
Oui j’aimé le film parce que je sentais que je pouvais me connecter avec elle. Il m’a aussi aidé à comprendre ce que la partie pauvre de Paris ressemble. J’aimé la partie du film où Marieme lié avec les autres filles et il était heureux que tous les souvenirs créés conjointement par exemple quand ils sont allés à Disneyland. Cela montre, même si elle était dans un mauvais endroit dans sa vie, elle était encore heureux.
Le film était sur les relations, car il montré Marieme et toutes les différentes relations qu’elle a eues avec les personnes différentes dans sa vie. Le film était sur Paris parce que le cadre était dans les quartiers pauvres de Paris. Le film était sur les médicaments, car il nous montre comment Marieme est devenu un trafiquant de drogue. Le film était aussi sur le mode de vie des jeunes garçons noirs et les filles qui vivaient à Paris.
Berlyn from Bishop Challoner
I liked the film because in a weird way it tackled the problems some teenagers faced. However, in my opinion the structure of the film was unusual, not like proper film/other films I’ve seen before, and as the structure was different the flow was a bit staggered – one minute she’s here, the next she’s there… I questioned how the rugby part in the beginning fitted the whole film.
A particular moment I liked was when the main character went to win back her friend’s reputation. It really illustrated how hard people have to fight to be respected in the ‘hood’. It demonstrated that at times, a simple conversation with the opposing team won’t work; fist to fist shows anger and strength which is what they look for.
It showed friendship because at the beginning she almost seemed like an outcast having a brother with no love for her, her feelings not being noticed by her crush and her grade slipping. Her friendship with the three girls gave her confidence though that confidence got her into places I wouldn’t want to be in.
The theme, family was also looked at because the brothers hate towards the girl showed that there isn’t always a smooth relationship in a family. Family issued were further more challenged when the main character began to have a relationship with her crush who was also her brother’s gang mate. It tells me that in the hood, you have to be careful with the relationships you get into. The brother beat up the main character who then ran away.
Relationships were also looked at between the main character and her boyfriend. It was almost like, because of her brother and society, their relationship was doomed which resulted to hiding in buildings to be together and late night visits that resulted to sexual intercourse which I’m not sure how a private thing was suddenly known by a lot of people and sadly her brother. It echoes the fact that you were looked down at if a young girl gave her virginity to a man out of wed. Another relationship I noticed was a business one the main character ended up having with the drug dealers. It shows what happens to lost girls that haven’t set a path for themselves; they get mixed up in the wrong crowd.
Women and violence in my opinion are linked to each other in this film. It was either a woman( the main character) was getting beating up because she gave up her virginity which could mean that she has no real respect for herself; or it was the women being the violent ones, fighting to preserve each others reputation and name. In a woman’s care, if they could fight for themselves, their hair gets shaved off. We didn’t get to see what would happen if a man was the one to loose the fight but I know it wouldn’t have resulted to the same punishment as a woman. That just explicates that women have to fight for our place and the option to fail isn’t available? The inequality between men and women remain elephantine.
Anonymous from Bishop Challoner:
I quite like the movie because it portrayed some of the experiences ans troubles that young women face, which some people may relate to more than others. It included many issued that teens and young adults may face.
I liked the very end of the movie. Although it ended on a cliffhanger and it wasn’t clear what happened it allowed you decide for yourself what the character would do and how it would end up for her.
Friendship is a theme in the movie as in the group of girls they all looked out for one another. One girl eve had a fight for one of her friends. The theme of relationships was shown in the film when the girl was with her boyfriend and their highs and lows were shown. Her relationship with him however led to violence at home from her brother. He would hit and abuse her. She was afraid of her brother and this led to her rebellion and running away from home in the emotional scene where she was saying goodbye to her sisters which links to the theme of family. The main character’s failure I the studies led to her finding her new friends, which showed the power and strength of women as they look out for each other. After all of this she got involved in drug dealing and got into some bad situations. In the end, she had to make the difficult decision to whether she would return home or not, which we did not find out.
Tianna from Bishop Challoner: I liked the film because were able to see what life is like for females our age in another country. It also gave us a lot of information on how lives change as we get older.My favourite moment is when Marieme refuses to go to Paris with the girls but when she sees the boy she likes, talking to the girls she immediately starts hanging out with them. Because we are able to realise that we change how we think and see people when it comes to love.Friendship was a topic presented in the film because we were able to see how Marieme made friends with the girls and how they changed and helped each other, for example when Marieme fought the girl for Lady. Another topic treated in the movie is love. We see how love changes people and what things people do for love. A good example of this is when Marieme hides the fact that she is with her brothers friend, away from him.
Dionne from Bishop Challoner: I found the movie interesting and enjoyable because it was about teenagers so we could relate to what they were doing.The most thing I enjoyed about this movie is when her and her brother became close. I didn’t like the ending because it didn’t show if she was going to be successful in life.The important factor of this movie was because of school. This is because in ‘Girlhood’ she couldn’t go to high school as she wasn’t capable as she repeated primary for three years. This caused her to be angry and give up that’s when she met the new girls causing the girlhood to happen. She had to sell drugs to make a living because she had no job or education. The movie was set in Paris in the urban side. She experienced violence from her brother as he always used to hit her. She did feel safe at home. Men were represented to being more dominant over women. She had a relationship with her brothers friend who she fell in love with.
Elisha from Bishop Challoner:
I fid the movie ok because it helps me to know that every country in the world have problems that they struggle to solve for the people. Also the movie shows how people can make many mistakes in their lives. The main character at the end of the movie, may had realised the mistakes she did and decided to take paths she was willing to do. The movie had ended there, which led me to question what would happen next.
The particular moment of the movie that I didn’t like was when the main character had decided to leave her family, accepted the job and dressed as a boy. This is beacause she had taken so many mistakes and she still continued moving on the same path, even though she had suffered a lot from her brother and her life. She had hidden her identity by dressing as a boy which is against my beliefs because she should be accepting the gift she had received and the type of character she is, she shouldn’t lock her true self up.
I think the topic of decisions are treated in the movie because the movie have shown that she was hesitating to make a decision at the beginning of being in Lady’s group and doing things that was unnecessary, which was commiting a crime and violent such as a thief, fighting and being a threat against the ones she doesn’t like by using a pocket knife. Also, she decided not to go to BTEC school as there was a small chance of getting into an university where she wanted to be. Furthermore, the decisions she had made was her mistakes and her wrong path, this led her into the dark where she struggled to learn her mistakes. Her action and behaviour through the movie, didn’t solve any of her problems, which it didn’t get her anywhere.
Isabella from Bishop Challoner:
I did like the movie because it was real and relatable for young adults. However I did find it confusing in many parts as the main character kept changing her lifestyle.
My favourite part of the movie was when after the fight Lady and Marianne met. There was a lot of suspense as we didn’t know if Lady would be grateful or not. I think decision is the main topic treated because it was the decision made by the girl that led to her violence relationships, rebellion and drug trafficking.
Valerie from Bishop Challoner:
I enjoyed the film. The storyline was quite captivating and I would recommend it to someone else.
I didn’t like the part where she decided to go to Paris with the girls cause I instantly knew it was a bad decision which she would eventually regret it.
The movie is about a girl who faces problems at school and also at home because she has an abusive brother who constantly hits her so I believe the topic of family violence and school are explored. She also builds a friendship with a group of girls which wasn’t a particularly wise decision as she ends up having to fight some girls which is seen as a source of entertainment for the ‘girlhood’. She also begins to deal/sell drugs when she moves out of her home due to the maltreatment she gets from her brother.
Although after a while her friends begin to see sense and tell her not to get herself into drug dealing there is a sense of rebellion from the main character Mariame as she goes on to do so anyways.