Dear Prudence ( Belle Épine )

Dear Prudence (DVD) (*)

Out of Stock

Original Title: Belle Épine
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )
French ( Dolby Digital Stereo )

Product Origin/Format:
France ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
80 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 2010 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )

Directed By:
Rebecca Zlotowski

Written By:
Marcia Romano
Rebecca Zlotowski

Actors:
Léa Seydoux ..... Prudence Friedmann
Anaïs Demoustier ..... Sonia Cohen
Agathe Schlenker ..... Maryline Santamaria
Johan Libéreau ..... Franck
Guillaume Gouix ..... Reynald
Anna Sigalevitch ..... Frédérique Friedmann
Marie Matheron ..... Delphine
Marina Tomé ..... Nelly Cohen
Carlo Brandt ..... Michel Cohen
Nicolas Maury ..... Daniel Cohen
Michaël Abiteboul ..... Gérard
Swann Arlaud ..... Jean-Pierre
Sébastien Haddouk ..... Sébastien
Valérie Schlumberger ..... Arlette Friedmann
Samir Mecheri ..... Samir

Synopsis:

Prudence Friedmann, 17, has lost her mother a few days ago. Alone and adrift in the family flat, Prudence meets Marilyne, a high school misfit who introduces her to the illegal circuit of Rungis, greater Paris. There, in the deserted wholesale market, souped-up mopeds and muscle bikes race against each other, undaunted by danger. Fascinated by Reynald, Franck and the other guys from the Rungis clique, Prudence tries to find a place for herself by passing off her loneliness as freedom.

Prudence Friedmann is alone. Her sister is on her own. Her father is working in Canada and she is left to cope with the sudden death of her mother. Set in Paris, Rebecca Zlotowski's sensitive Dear Prudence is an impressionistic story of a sad and lonely adolescent who begins to lose her bearings as a result of her inability to grieve her mother's loss. In a beautifully nuanced performance by Lea Seydoux as Prudence, this personal film manages to avoid the self-conscious clichés of adolescent angst, creating a believable three-dimensional human being, a 16-year-old in pain trying to navigate in an emotional no-man's land. As the film begins, Prudence (Seydoux) and Maryline (Agathe Schlenker) are arrested and strip-searched for shoplifting but released when the evidence is hidden too deep to be discovered. Afterward she seeks out her fellow offender and invites her to her house, giving her the keys to come and go as she pleases. Soon Maryline introduces Prudence to her friends on the motorcycle racing circuit at Rungis and the naïve young girl who is starving for love, skips school and becomes involved with the fast and chaotic world of bike racing. Although, at the home of her aunt and uncle, the meaning of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are explained, she ignores the celebrations and traditions of her Jewish heritage and continues to seek adventure among the bikers. She becomes involved with a boy, Franck (Johan Libereau), who takes advantage of her for his sexual pleasure. When she walks out of a movie leaving Franck feeling angry and deserted, she goes to his house to try and talk to his mother, but she is too busy or just not interested and Prudence reaches the outer edge of despair. Filled with frequent use of female nudity and accompanied by a pounding pop-rock score, Dear Prudence allows the turbulence of an adolescent to come alive, managing to convey a quiet emotional power that is tender and haunting. Only when Prudence witnesses the death of a young bike racer on the circuit does she begin to touch her own deep and suppressed grief, perhaps realizing, in the words of the poet Dylan Thomas, 'Though lovers be lost love shall not; And death shall have no dominion'.

Dear Prudence (Belle épine) is a new French flick about the dark side of underground teen street-bike racing in Paris! Rebecca Zlotowski wrote and directed this strange little movie known as Belle épine in its native tongue and Dear Prudence for all the Americans. It stars Léa Seydoux, Anaïs Demoustier, Agathe Schlencker, Johan Libéreau, Guillaume Gouix, Anna Sigalevitch, Michaël Abiteboul, and Marie Matheron. Paris in the 1980s. 17-year-old Prudence Friedmann (the gifted Léa Seydoux) has just lost her mother. Left to her own devices in the family apartment, she enjoys this sudden freedom along with her new friend Marilyne. They both start frequenting the dangerous illegal racing track at Rungis, where big-engined cars and souped-up motorbikes drive around chaotically.

This product was added to our catalog on Saturday 15 October, 2011.

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