A Very Curious Girl

(1969) dir Nelly Kaplan w/Bernadette Lafont, Georges Géret, Henri Czarniak, Claire Maurier, Julien Guiomar, Jean Parédès [107 min; DCP]

Largely unknown today, Nelly Kaplan emigrated from Argentina to France in the 1950s and made her mark in journalism, surrealist fiction, film theory and criticism, and documentary filmmaking before going on to write and direct her own fiction films. Kaplan’s features probe sexual power dynamics and confront the hypocrisies of France’s prevailing social order with a ferocious but playful touch. She remains a defiant artist who still feels ahead of her time.

A VERY CURIOUS GIRL, Kaplan’s breakthrough film, engages in dark and surreal humor and showcases Bernadette Lafont as Marie, a suddenly orphaned young woman who learns to use her village’s hypocrisy to her own advantage – sexually and otherwise.“ – adapted from notes for the Quad Cinema