Review of La puce

What I love about Euro-cinema, and what makes it totally unfit for US audiences, is it's gritty realism when it comes to gender relations. Take, for example, this movie, and compare it with something like "American beauty", which treats a similar topic: a man hitting on a teenage girl. Here, the charm and comedy that made "American Beauty" the mainstream success that it is gets discarded for a gritty realism. Marion, the love interest, is all of 14 years old, and where "American..." shys away from actually having Lester Burnham go all the way, this movies unrepentant "Marc" has no such reservations. But neither he nor she nor director Emmanuelle Bercot pass judgment on the act, which is displayed with all the awkwardness, cajolery and qualms than one might expect from the situation. French cinema usually has a very tolerant view of sexual relations, and this movie is a prime example.