36 Fillette (1988) - Catherine Breillat

The coming of age archetype entangled with such Irreverence and provocation, 36 Fillette is revelatory in the way it traverses uncomfortable terrain. It's provocative but earnest, detailing a young girls sexual and cognitive awakening through a taboo subject matter that could have easily divulged into the grotesque. Deftly managing to balance its irreverence with a thunderous honesty, the film exhibits the objectification of the female form, the dangers within, and the dynamics of power that lay within carnal desire between the masculine and feminine forms. Through her escapades with this older man and the subsequent denouement, 36 Fillette pronounces the transactional nature of sex, and how when disentangled from emotion, can grant a young girl finding herself a sense of autonomy and power when navigating a male-dominated world. A story of awakening, this young woman who is taken advantage of, learns about the power she wields in the social arena where the female body, while exploited and objectified, can be utilized for one's own gain when self-aware. Her body is a useful commodity, a tool for seizing back power and agency, and in the denouement when our young female protagonist smiles at the camera, breaking the fourth wall,, 36 Fillette suggests she has awakened - the recognition of power she has, and the service in which this power can help her obtain emotional and intellectual betterment.