海角大神

Charlie (Jos茅phine Japy) is a 17-year-old French provincial student whose face can seem impassive one moment and suddenly animated the next. Her wide, ear-to-ear smiles carry a caution, as if they were saying, 鈥淲ho knows how long until the next delight comes?鈥�

In the Cannes festival standout 鈥淏reathe,鈥� the increasingly compelling psychological thriller from co-writer and director M茅lanie Laurent, Charlie is a girl in need of rescue from the uninspiring life she inhabits. Her mother, Vanessa (Isabelle Carr茅), is separated from her philandering husband and often acts not much older than her daughter (whom she had when she was 18). Charlie鈥檚 best friend (Roxane Duran) is sympathetic but mousy.

Charlie proves no match for the new transfer student, Sarah (Lou de La芒ge), who sweeps into class with a self-confident gusto that knocks Charlie for a loop. The two quickly become inseparable: Charlie prizes Sarah鈥檚 rebellious shenanigans while tempering, ever so slightly, her new friend鈥檚 wild side.

At first I thought 鈥淏reathe鈥� would play out like a Gallic version of 鈥淢ean Girls,鈥� but it鈥檚 more troubling than that. We can see, even if Charlie can鈥檛, that this friendship is headed for the rocks. Sarah claims that she is living with her aunt because her mother is still stationed as a volunteer worker in Nigeria. We wait for this bubble to burst.

Accompanying Charlie on a family vacation to a seaside trailer park, Sarah briefly latches onto a local Spaniard, leaving Charlie momentarily bewildered and bereft. Charlie reveals to Sarah that she is a virgin, and Sarah seems amused, though not altogether shocked, at the news. They share a quick, drunken kiss, which resonates with Charlie but not Sarah, for whom this is just another fanciful provocation.

The dynamic of the girls鈥� friendship is worked out in a way that seems intuitively and psychologically right. The intensity belies a certain desperation in the relationship: Charlie wants far more emotionally from Sarah than Sarah is capable of giving. Laurent gets at the ways in which spirited friendships, especially between young girls, can morph rapidly into something much more unsettling. 聽

With her co-screenwriter, Julien Lambroschini, Laurent doesn鈥檛 make the mistake of overhyping the mounting dread. The intensity is best served by their methodical, low-key approach. When the film reaches its climax, we are both stunned and totally prepared for what happens. Laurent, best known as an actress for her roles in such films as 鈥淚nglourious Basterds,鈥� works extremely well with her cast. For Japy鈥檚 performance to work, we have to recognize, as we certainly do here, Charlie鈥檚 banked fires beneath the prim facade. De La芒ge has the showier part, but she doesn鈥檛 telegraph her dissolution, which makes it all the scarier.聽

Not that we weren鈥檛 warned. In Charlie鈥檚 first classroom scene, her literature instructor offers up this 辫别苍蝉茅别: 鈥淧assion is harmful if not controlled.鈥� Grade: B+ (This film is not rated.)