La Boum (1980)
Directed by Claude Pinoteau

Film Review

Although it is hardly groundbreaking material, La Boum is one of those inconsequential French romantic comedies which you cannot help falling for.   The film was an enormous commercial success when it was first released in 1980 and a sequel, imaginatively titled La Boum 2, was soon hurried into production with the same principal cast.  Sympathetic performances from Claude Brasseur and Brigitte Fossey bring a generous smattering of humour and poignancy to their portrayal of an all-too familiar marital breakdown, but the real star of the show is a seductive young debutante named Sophie Marceau, who became a major star of French cinema on the back of this film.  The film effectively captures the many moods of teenage puppy love, thanks to some good acting and good scripting, skilfully avoiding the tacky sentimentality that is so evident in American films of this genre.

Film Synopsis

François and Françoise Berreton are an ordinary middle-class couple who have recently settled in Paris with their 14-year-old daughter Vic.  François is a dentist, his wife designs comicbooks, and their daughter is just beginning to experience the first pangs of adolescence.  At a lively party, Vic meets Mathieu and it is love at first sight.  Vic's liberal-minded grandmother Poupette knows where this first infatuation will end and so she does her best to bring Vic and Mathieu together during a stay in the seaside town of Deauville.  Vic is not the only one facing an emotional crisis.  Her father is having an affair with another woman, Vanessa, and to explain his frequent absences from home he has to resort to blatant lies.  Françoise immediately sees through this deception and swiftly takes her revenge by sleeping with Vic's German teacher.  Just when her parents are gearing up for an acrimonious separation, Vic suddenly comes to realise that perhaps Mathieu isn't the one for her after all...