La vie ne me fait pas peur

Coming of Age in the 70s: Expanding on numerous scenes from PETITES, LA VIE NE ME FAIT PAS PEUR picks up on the story of Emilie, Stella, Inès and Marion three years later, from their high school graduation and beyond. Older teenagers now struggling with complexes, they are concerned by being in love, "the first time", disappointment and revenge. There is a vacation in Italy, some dabbling with drugs, a serious illness. One of the young women is latently aggressive, another excessively correct, a third lost in her dreams, and the fourth overwhelmed by her mentally ill mother (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi). All of them try to invent an identity for themselves. Told entirely from the young women's' perspective, this brightly colored film fluctuates between euphoric exuberance and despair, cheerful anarchy and sadness. The four are shaped by their friendship - but they each have to answer the question "What is happiness?" for themselves. (bik) With the support of the Institut français. (bik)