THE MORNING LIST
Even if “young people today” say they are less and less interested in love on screen – this is in any case the result ofa study from the University of California at Los Angeles published in October 2023widely relayed and commented on – here are some proposals, which range from comedy teenage American to the French educational series, via François Ozon (yes) and Sophie Marceau, to rekindle the flame of little hearts numbed by winter.
“Lolita in spite of myself”: a comedy gem by Tina Fey
Rather than going to the theater to see the uninspired remake of Mean Girls (its original title) by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr., introduce your teenagers to this classic, long underestimated on this side of the Atlantic, of American comedy teenage. Written and produced by two pillars of “Saturday Night Live”, a fifty-year-old television show, Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels, this film directed by Mark Waters and released in 2004 tells the painful integration of Cady (Lindsay Lohan, then at the height of her popularity) , a new student in a typical American high school, and her forced recruitment with the “plastics”, a trio of young girls as popular as they are odious. Until the day Cady discovers a crush on Regina’s ex-boyfriend, the leader of the gang…
Insolent, very politically incorrect and deliciously funny, this comedy from another time has lost none of its flavor, and will act as a balm for all the annoyances of adolescence. The bonus: the presence in the credits of some future stars – Lizzy Caplan, Amanda Seyfried, Rachel McAdams…
Film directed by Mark Waters. With Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tina Fey (United States, 2004, 97 min). Available on VOD on MyCanal and Prime Video. From 10 years old.
“Ten good reasons to dump you”: deliciously cheesy
Another option, less refined but a little more rock’n’roll, this Hollywood adaptation, jubilant in its corniness, of The Taming of the Shrew. There’s obviously not much left of Shakespeare in Gil Junger’s film, released in 1999, but this loose comedy about the balance of power and class between Californian high school students, and about the improbable love story, but so romantic , between the bad boy with a tender heart and the nerd with a bad temper has something delightful in the way he juggles with clichés.
Also (re)see for the pretty couple formed by Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger, for Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an adorable white-faced character, and for the hilarious character of the high school “surrogate”, played with sweet madness by Allison Janney . From 10 years old.
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