Lila Says
Lila Dit Ça
Ziad Doueiri
France | 2004 | 89mins | 35mm | Colour | Subtitled

Based in a working-class Arab neighbourhood in Marseilles, sixteen-year-old Lila is a provocative mix of precocious sexuality and Catholic innocence who, when asking quiet Chimo to look up her skirt, sets in motion a series of events that are in turn raw, sensual and devastating. Lila’s coquettish demeanour can barely contain the vitality and powerful eroticism that she soon begins to share with Chimo, who finds himself both besotted with and intimidated by her presence.

Unfortunately, one of Chimo’s friends is also attracted to Lila making this partly a tale of a tragic love triangle but also a story of sexual awakening. With a certain grace and streetwise wit, Chimo records Lila’s story, taking note of her increasingly troubled accounts of various exploits and violations. The film builds relentlessly, breathlessly, until it becomes clear that Lila is perilously close to the edge, where the brutality of the world they inhabit threatens to consume her.

Featuring French cinema’s most sexually charged bicycle ride since Jules et Jim and as much about tolerance as sexuality, this is a touching, wrenching tale of innocent love sprung from wanton degradation, convincing us that even in the bleakest, most bitter settings, beauty and romance are possible.