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Schoolgirls
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Slow-paced coming-of-age drama has sex, some language.
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Schoolgirls
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What's the Story?
In SCHOOLGIRLS, Celia (Andrea Fandos) is a curious tween who lives a lonely life with her hardworking single mother. New girl Brisa (Zoe Arnea) enters her Catholic school class with style, in a cool jean jacket, a little taller and more developed than her peers. The two become friends and giggle with other girls as they put on makeup and open hidden condom packs. Some succumb to peer pressure to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. The movie is a snapshot of girls in transition to adulthood, for which most of them aren't ready yet. Spanish society of the 1990s is also at a moment of change, the movie suggests, from church-dominated repression that disproportionately affects women to a world more accepting of and fair to women and the choices they face. Rebellion is in the air as the girls listen to music that their parents don't like and ask questions about why God doesn't like unwed mothers or illegitimate kids. Celia eventually hears the rumor that her mother never married, spurring her to do some thinking.
Is It Any Good?
Schoolgirls is slow, almost aimless. After many scenes depicting a lonely child desperate for the attention of her unresponsive mom, the big reveal is hardly a surprise. The mother's secret shame casts a shadow on the daughter, whose queries about her father remain unanswered.
The movie never gets any further than that. The camera lingers on the image of Celia lying in bed ruminating for long, long seconds, suggesting she's thinking deeply but we really don't know about what. Many scenes feel improvised, and the camera swings about without seeming purpose. It captures an overall sense of pre-pubescent curiosity about sex and the world but also the beginnings of prejudice, of class divisions, of biases among kids learned from parents and the church. The next generation is gearing up to shun and marginalize, just the way the previous one did. The movie suggests that when Celia sings aloud during a choir performance, this marks the start of her independence. It takes 97 minutes to get to this relatively insignificant moment, and it isn't worth the wait.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the origins of the stigma associated with illegitimacy. How were fear-mongering tactics used to control inconvenient behaviors?
Why do you think women are held accountable and punished for having sex without church-sanctioned matrimony while men generally are not?
How do you think a child feels when a single mom refuses to tell the truth about the child's father? Do you think one secret leads to others? How so?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: September 4, 2020
- Cast: Andrea Fandos , Zoe Arnao
- Director: Pilar Palomero
- Studio: Aragon Television
- Genre: Drama
- Run time: 97 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: July 7, 2022
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