Oct 28

International Film Forum: DIABOLO MENTHE

Mon, October 28, 2019 • 7:00pm - 8:40pm (1h 40m) • Weitz Cinema

Diabolo menthe [Peppermint Soda] (Diane Kurys, 1977, France, 97 min.)

Diane Kurys’s autobiographical first film about the 1963-64 school year in the lives of two teenage sisters in Paris has reached a hallowed place in French culture: the film’s infectious mixture of nostalgia and rebellion led to an unexpected box office success upon its release in 1977 and has ensured its continued relevance to subsequent generations. In describing the rocky relationship between fifteen-year-old Frédérique and thirteen-year-old Anne, the daughters of a divorced Jewish shopkeeper, Diane Kurys pays meticulous attention to detail, stringing together a series of delicate vignettes that have the flavor of lived experience. While Anne is a dreamy troublemaker, still somewhere between childhood and her body’s rapidly approaching maturity, Frédérique is discovering boys and politics in the heated context of Algerian independence. Set in an all-girls school and an exclusively female household, Peppermint Soda is squarely focused on the female experience. Its story is clearly anchored in its time—a radio announcement brings news of the assassination of John F. Kennedy—but its reach is universal, speaking to every woman who ever worried about when she would finally get her period and to the men who wonder what it’s like for a girl.

 

 

Event Contact: Sally Pierce

Event Summary

International Film Forum: DIABOLO MENTHE
  • Intended For: General Public, Students, Faculty, Staff

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