La fille de quinze ans

Between Jacques Doillon’s acting in his La femme qui pleure and in La fille de quinze ans is a period of more than ten years. Just as with his first film, he also declared in the case of La fille de quinze ans that he had not sought out the double role as actor-director but that this was forced on him by coincidence, namely when the original leading actor dropped out. Thierry Jousse (Cahiers du Cinéma) did not accept Doillon’s explanation. ‘Putting his body on the line on the screen is not only a question of being autobiographical, it is above all a cinematographic problem. La fille de quinze ans is the story of a body that wants to live with another body in the same space, within the same frame. The body of the actor seeks as an actor the greatest possible proximity,’ according to Jousse. That proximity refers for instance to the actress in the film. The director’s acting is an extension of the theme of the film narrative.The story of La fille de quinze ans (a small-scale and intimate film in which Doillon reveals himself to be a virtuoso in mise-en-scène) is about a three-sided relationship. A father (played by Doillon) wants to go on holiday with his 14-year-old son Thomas to restore the trust that has been lost between them. Thomas only wants to come if he can bring along his girl-friend Juliette. From the moment that the three of them find themselves on Ibiza, an ambiguous and almost cruel game of seduction starts up between the father and Juliette. What happens is what no one wanted and all three of them seem to emerge as losers.