Inspired by the true story of high-school students in a Massachusetts fishing town who made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together, 17 Girls, set in a French seaside village, intelligently examines, but never judges, the motivations of its adolescent protagonists. In their first film, sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin explore the dynamics of a clique of girls led by Camille, who announces to her classmates during gym class that she’s expecting a baby. The members of her inner circle announce that they will get pregnant, too, in solidarity. 17 Girls isn’t interested in providing answers to what ultimately can’t be explained; instead of making sociological pronouncements, the film more intriguingly observes the teenagers’ often contradictory concepts of freedom, the future, parenthood, and autonomy.
Directed by Delphine and Muriel Coulin
With Louise Grinberg, Juliette Darche, Roxanne Durand
Not Rated, 90 minutes, 35mm
French with English subtitles
Directors Delphine and Muriel Coulin scheduled to appear in person!
Co-presented by the Gender Studies Program, the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre, the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.
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