I Found It At the Movies: 1994—Les roseaux sauvages (André Téchiné)

By Jeffrey Goodman
URL: http://www.moviemaker.com/blog/item/i_found_it_at_the_movies_1994_les_roseaux_sauvages_andre_techine_20120116/
Fans of Renoir's A Day in the Country take notice! Along with that famous film, this is one of French cinema's most poetic and lyrical pastoral works. Not only is it visually stunning, Les roseaux sauvages (Wild Reeds) is also emotionally devastating. In fact, it captures the complexity of adolescence as well as anything I've ever seen. It's intense, penetrating, nakedly honest and gets at the vulnerability of mid-teens in a remarkably truthful way. This is one of those films where everything seems to have aligned perfectly: The director's sensibility with the material, the casting, the choice of locations—it's simply a staggering accomplishment from Téchiné.