December 23, 2019,

You no longer have the restrictions of childhood nor the burden of adulthood. Your life is still a fresh canvass in front of you as you begin to paint it with youthful love.

Most people’s teenage years are the best and most memorable of their life.

They should be. They only come around once.

There are a number of factors that can make it that way. The society you live in, the neighborhood you go to school in, if you have a great teenage hangout job and very important, the decade you live in.

They are all factors.

In our circle for Zak, when he turned 18, he had been working since he was 12, so he paid cash for the family car, worked at a great teenage job where he received salary and tips, worked out with weights and was no longer a child and he was baby face handsome.

It was the perfect teenage storm.

He got virtually every teenage girl that he wanted.

His time period was the 1970s on the South Peninsula in the vibrant open minded San Francisco Bay area. The teenage girls were fresh faced and beautiful, there was the pageantry of high school football, kids still wore their high school letter jackets, there were ice cream parlors, the Peppermill restaurants with their romantic fire places, drive in movie theaters and so much more.

What a time period and scenic place to be a teenager.

The 1950s were very special and nostalgic but society restrictive.

The 1960’s was indeed free love with the British Invasion and Motown Soul but very turbulent.

The 1970’s with her muscle cars was the 1950’s on steroids.

The stars shined brighter at night. It was magical.

First loves are always the same and always special and different.

There are few civilizations and times periods that can match it. Sadly some are war torn, very restrictive or honestly speaking, not as creative.

Except for France.

We have seen many French films involving teens and said to ourselves, we wish we were there. The kids are so cool and very down to earth and honest.

Young questioning minds in a very passionate and open minded society.

They love romance too. Good for them.

This is reflected so powerfully and honestly in their films.

Please walk with us along the Banks of the Seine River.

Meander aimlessly with your eyes wide open. Soak it all in. You may never return.

BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR

The stories in France are not, well, American, but they have fun in their own way amid the seriousness of it all.

Blue is the Warmest Color is not a comedy. It has very fun and insightful moments but it has a strong message and it takes us along for the ride.

A captivating cultural French road trip into the evolving female teenage mind.

Here is the storyline found at Imdb. “Adèle’s life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire and to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adèle grows, seeks herself, loses herself, and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.”

And you know what?

There is so much more to this gem.

The premise of Blue Is the Warmest Color is based on the 2010 graphic novel of the same name by Julie Maroh.

Approximately 800 hours of footage was shot, ultimately being trimmed down to 179 minutes.

Never has 3 hours of film making gone by so quickly.

The masterful reviewers at rogerebert.com analyze, “The movie’s transportive quality lies almost entirely with its lead actresses. They are committed to their roles to a degree that could be called exuberant. Neither gives off the slightest hint of working to achieve or inhabit an emotional effect.”

It’s strange. We read this comment online and agree. Emma’s hair seems to represent the love she has for Adele. When they first met, it was an intense, vibrant shade of blue but as time passed it faded much like the love she felt for her and she turned cold hence “Blue is the Warmest Color.”

The sound track is incredible as well. Here are some of the lyrics to Lykke Li’s Follow Rivers song that brings one party scene to life:

You’re my river running high
Run deep, run wild

I, I follow, I follow you
Deep sea baby, I follow you
I, I follow, I follow you
Dark doom honey, I follow you

We followed and loved it.

You’re only young and a teenager in France, just once.

Watch the film and we think you will agree.

BREATHE RESPIRE

What if you met your dream girl and she is the new girl in school?

That is a good thing. Why?

Whatever baggage you may be carrying around, she was never a part of it. You get a fresh start. She doesn’t know any of your history.

Life is about now. How grand. But wait.

What if she is carrying a lot of baggage?

You won’t see it. Time will have to pass and you’ll just have to figure it out. She will give you clues. But hey, think positive. Bad things may never happen and the two of you will love each other until you graduate from high school.

No promises after that.

Respire, also known as Breathe, is a 2014 French drama film based on the novel of the same name by Anne-Sophie Brasme.

In January 2015, the film received three nominations at the 20th Lumières Awards and also two nominations at the 40th César Awards.

Captivatingly told, as only the French can, here is the storyline.

Charlie (Joséphine Japy) is a teenage high school student whose parents are breaking up.

That speaks volumes.

At school she is assigned to take care of new student Sarah (Lou de Laâge) who has recently moved from Nigeria (which is a complete lie).

She says she lives with her aunt while her mother works in Africa (another lie).

The two quickly become inseparable.

Sarah reads Charlie like a book. She’d make an exceptional therapist. Not the one like Adele in the series In Treatment who is very professional, objective and insightful.

She is more like the therapist in the Netflix series Gypsy who is selfish, manipulative and dates her client’s girlfriend.

You will need therapy to recover from Sarah’s behavior. Charlie surely did.

Talk about baggage.

This film is mind blowing, mesmerizing and believable.

Once Charlie does something that Sarah doesn’t like, you can buy her all the French bread and cheese in France and she will not forgive her submissive friend.

She will get even though.

And throughout it all, you can’t help but think to yourself, I would love to be a teenager in France and be in the middle of this soap opera, tingling with delight and watching safely from the sidelines.

PUPPY LOVE

We were all puppies once.

Then we became teenagers.

Some of the puppy was still in us.

If there was ever a place to engage life and make the awkward and intense transformation from puppy into teenager is France.

On film. In film.

Puppy Love is a 2013 coming-of-age film directed by Delphine Lehericey, written by Ms. Lehericey and Martin Coiffier, and starring Solène Rigot, Audrey Bastien, and Vincent Pérez.

It was an International co-production of Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.

Solene plays a 14-year-old girl named Diane who, after she meets her new neighbor Julia, played by Bastien, she explores her sexuality, which she has been dying to do.

The film won a Magritte Award for Best Original Score.

Will Julia take Diane down the scarlet road that she desires?

Of course. And more. Much more.

Too much more.

That is the power of the film. Julia has no limits and Diane has already paid the toll and must finish the ride.

There are a lot of potholes ahead.

Julia takes Diane to places she never expected but if she is honest, was always curious about.

Similar to the other French teen films above, we meet a pair of precocious captivating young women. One has boundaries but seems to be mesmerized and trapped by the one who doesn’t.

With the French, what you see is what you get. What they say, they actually mean it and it is done not in a mean spirited way but an honest one.

“I just love France, I love French people, I love the French language, I love French food. I love their mentality. I just feel like it’s me. I’m very French.”… Olga Kurylenko

If these films capture the reality of teen life in France, being a teenager in this society that has fascinated romantics for decades would be a ride that you must go on.

Even if you are strapped in on a rollercoaster. Don’t panic.

Just enjoy the ride.   

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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2278871/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Is_the_Warmest_Colour

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/blue-is-the-warmest-color-2013

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathe_(2014_film)

https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/244372/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppy_Love_(2013_film)

https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/france-quotes