Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

Fat Girl Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 5, 2011

Winner of France Culture Award - French Cineaste, Catherine Breillat’s "À ma soeur!" a.k.a. "Fat Girl" (2001) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include two trailers; interviews with Catherine Breillat; and standard making of featurette. The disc also arrives with a 20-page illustrated booklet containing Ginette Vincendeau's essay "Sisters, Sex, and Sitcom"; "One Soul With Two Sisters: An Interview with Catherine Breillat"; and "About the Title" by Catherine Breillat". In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Anais and Elena

The overwhelming majority of contemporary films that deal with sexuality approach the subject from a strictly male point of view. French director Catherine Breillat’s À ma soeur! a.k.a. Fat Girl goes in the opposite direction, focusing on the complex relationship between two sisters who have never made love.

Twelve-year-old Anais (Anaïs Reboux) is quiet and fat, which is why she is often the recipient of mean jokes targeting her appearance. Fifteen-year-old Elena (Roxane Mesquida, Sex is Comedy, The Last Mistress), Anais’ sister, is slim and beautiful. Most of the time the two girls get along well but both realize that that they are treated differently because of the way they look.

While on holiday somewhere in the south of France, Elena and Anais meet Fernando (Libero De Rienzo, Santa Maradona, Fortapàsc), a handsome, slightly older law student from Italy. They talk. Then Elena and Fernando kiss, while Anais has a large banana split. By the end of the day, Fernando manages to convince Elena that she has been missing a lot because she has never before made love. They arrange to meet. Shortly after, Elena confesses to Anais that she has fallen in love with Fernando.

Anais understands exactly what Elena is trying to tell her, and also realizes that she is going to lose yet another contest after her sister loses her virginity to Fernando. This is why she tries to convince herself that it would be best if her first time is with someone she does not love -- the expectations will be different and there won’t be unnecessary drama.

When Fernando enters their bedroom through the window, Anais pretends that she is asleep. He talks to Elena then they have sex, while Anais watches. She also quietly cries.

Later on, Fernando gives Elena an expensive ring that belongs to his mother. She quickly confronts Anais and Elena’s mother, who has absolutely no idea why one of her daughters would accept such a gift. Fernando’s mother does and wants it back. A couple of days later, Elena, Anais, and their mother head back to the city.

Fat Girl is a brutally honest film about abusers and victims. But it is not a film that delivers politically correct observations about them, rather it reveals how they become such and why.

According to director Breillat, they exist because there are certain stereotypes that justify their existence. Anais, for instance, is constantly abused because she is fat. To spare her the suffering - or because they don't value her opinion - her family has allowed her to roam free. It is all a matter of perspective.

The beautiful Elena likes Anais, but she also routinely abuses her, while she constantly reminds her that she loves her. Ultimately, she gets abused by Fernando, who uses the same techniques and pretexts Elena does to impose his will. It is a viscous circle. However, only Anais is aware of its existence because there is no one she could abuse.

The film features three sex scenes. The longest one, which lasts approximately twenty-five minutes, is also the most explicit one. Its progression and outcome are painfully familiar. The third scene is the most controversial one because it proves a disturbing point Anais argues halfway through the film.

*: In 2001, Fat Girl won France Culture Award - French Cineaste of the Year (Catherine Breillat) at the Cannes Film Festival. During the same year, the film also won Manfred Salzgeber Award (Catherine Breillat) at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Fat Girl Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.86:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Catherine Breillat's Fat Girl arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:

"This high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS system and Pixel Farm's PFClean system, while Digital Vision's DVNR system was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction.

Telecine supervisor: Lee Kline.
Telecine colorist: Jean-Marc Moreau/Vdm, Paris."

Certain parts of this high-definition transfer look rough - mild edge-enhancement pops up (see screencapture #14) and halo creeps in. In motion, however, both are quite difficult to spot, unless one expects or knows where to look for them. During the beach footage, for instance, edge-enhancement has a tendency to pop up and then very quickly disappear. Generally speaking, fine object detail is good, while clarity is consistent throughout the entire film. Contrast is also handled well; in fact, the obvious sharpening from the SDVD release of Fat Girl, which was prominent where contrast levels was weaker, is practically gone here. Furthermore, color reproduction is also improved. On the SDVD release the variety of blues and greens look weak, and there is quite a bit of shimmer that is easy to see during the daylight scenes, while on the Blu-ray the blues and greens look more natural. Some mild noise corrections have also been performed, though the film grain has largely been retained. Finally, there are no serious stability issues to report in this review. I also did not see any damage marks, scratches, stains, or debris. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Fat Girl Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:

"The surround soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the original 6-track digital audio master. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube's integrated workstation."

Fat Girl is primarily a dialog-driven feature without a prominent music score. Naturally, dynamic intensity and surround activity are quite limited. However, there are portions of the film, and specifically the powerful finale, where the depth and vibrancy good loseless tracks support are clearly felt. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and very easy to follow. Also, I did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, hissings, or audio dropouts to report in this review. The English translation is excellent.

Fat Girl Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• U.S. Trailer - the original U.S. trailer for Fat Girl. Music only. (2 min, 1080i)

• French Trailer - the original theatrical trailer for Fat Girl. In French, with optional English subtitles. (2 min, 1080i)

• The Making of Fat Girl - a collection of behind the scenes clips with plenty of comments from director Catherine Breillat and cast and crew members. In French, with optional English subtitles. (6 min, 1080i)

• Interviews - in French, with optional English subtitles.
  
  -- Catherine Breillat Talks About Her Film. (10 min, 1080i).
  -- 2001 Berlin International Film Festival. (12 min, 1080i).

• Booklet - 20-page illustrated booklet containing Ginette Vincendeau's essay "Sisters, Sex, and Sitcom"; "One Soul With Two Sisters: An Interview with Catherine Breillat"; and "About the Title" by Catherine Breillat".

Fat Girl Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Like Gaspar Noe, Virginie Despentes, and Jean-Claude Brisseau, Catherine Breillat's films are typically amongst the most daring and controversial screened each year at various prestigious festivals around the world. Fat Girl is not the director's most accessible film, but in my opinion it is her most effective one. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.