Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Emma and Anaïs are best friends and yet everything in their life seems to set them apart, their social backgrounds but also their personalities. From the age of thirteen to eighteen, Adolescentes follows the two teenagers during these years where radical transformations and first times punctuate daily life. Through their personal stories, the film offers a rare portrait of France and its recent history.
Adolescentes is a remarkable observational documentary that follows two French teenage girls over five years, capturing the textures of adolescence with extraordinary patience and intimacy. The cinematography is exceptional — intimate, naturalistic, and deeply attentive to the rhythms of young life. The film's novelty lies in its rare longitudinal commitment and the way it uses two contrasting friendships to illuminate class divides in contemporary France, making it genuinely singular among coming-of-age documentaries. The 'plot' is life itself, rendered with sensitivity, though the episodic nature means some stretches feel less revelatory. The ending, while emotionally resonant, doesn't fully resolve the class tensions the film raises, leaving the viewer with something bittersweet but slightly inconclusive. Acting is not applicable in the traditional sense, but the subjects' naturalism and openness before the camera is commendable.