Fat Girl (2001) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

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00:12Hey guys, hope you're doing well. It's me Bo back on the Film Scene Investigation channel

00:18with another cult movie review. Hope you're doing well. Thanks so much for checking out

00:24this review. In today's video, I'm going to be taking a look at the controversial French drama

00:31Fat Girl. Now when this movie was released back in 2001, it certainly generated a lot of controversy

00:42in regards to its subject matter. So yeah, I've been aware of this film for some time. It's somewhat

00:48notorious and looking forward to taking a closer look at this movie today. Just before we get into

00:55it guys, if you haven't already, please do consider subscribing to the channel. All the support is

01:01greatly appreciated. So Fat Girl from 2001 was written and directed by the French filmmaker

01:11Catherine Brilet and starred the young Anais Rebu in the lead role. Now I'd already seen a few of

01:21Catherine Brilet's movies. I've reviewed a few on this channel. So yes, going into it, I was aware

01:31of the type of films that Brilet produced and yeah, you know, I kind of knew what I was getting

01:37myself

01:38into. Catherine Brilet is certainly a filmmaker that's, you know, not afraid to push the boundaries

01:47and explore, you know, complex themes. And that's something that I've always appreciated about her

01:53for sure. Now, when it comes to the film's narrative, the movie followed two sisters, one called

02:00Eleanor, the other called Anais, who were on a summer vacation with their family. The older sister,

02:06Eleanor, who was played by actress Roxanne Mesquida, was a very beautiful and the complete opposite to

02:15her younger sister. Eleanor was confident around boys, openly, you know, searching for a boyfriend,

02:23whereas her younger sister, Anais, seemed to be totally disinterested in them. Eleanor being the

02:30older of the two. You know, she wasn't exactly thrilled to be hanging out with her younger sister

02:37all summer, but unfortunately for her, she had no other choice. So the sisters ended up meeting this

02:45older Italian guy called Fernando at a coffee shop. They sat down and yeah, I mean, very quickly,

02:53it was obvious that Fernando had taken a liking to Eleanor. The Fernando character, who was played by

03:01actor Libero Dorenzo, was an older guy. He was a student and clearly Eleanor was a lot younger than

03:08him. But yeah, clearly that didn't bother him at all. It was quite clear that this Fernando guy was

03:16very eager to get physical with Eleanor, while she was somewhat apprehensive about the whole thing.

03:24Anyways, this all led to a scene where Fernando snuck his way into Eleanor's room at night and

03:31basically tried to persuade her to sleep with him. While Eleanor was indeed attracted to Fernando,

03:40she was still a virgin. I mean, she had little to no experience around guys. And this whole thing

03:47seemed, you know, a little bit too much too soon. I mean, this guy just wouldn't take no for an

03:54answer.

03:54He was being really pushy, yet Eleanor just didn't want to go through with it. For a second, I kind

04:02of

04:02thought that we might end up seeing some sort of sexual assault take place. And those types of scenes,

04:08I really find them quite disgusting. So yeah, luckily it didn't, you know, end up that way.

04:15Fernando eventually accepted that Eleanor wasn't going to sleep with him. And well, that was it.

04:22We then saw Eleanor start regretting her decision. You know, she had rejected this, you know, attractive

04:29guy. And she thought, you know, she had blown her chances. Anyways, this all led to the next night

04:35when Fernando once again snuck into a room. But this time they did sleep together. And, you know,

04:42while this was going on, you had Eleanor's younger sister, Anais, laying in bed awake, listening and

04:50watching the whole thing, you know, take place in front of her. And to me, that was, yeah, just kind

04:57of weird, you know, seeing your sibling have sex. It's just kind of weird, kind of weird.

05:04Now, a large chunk of the movie was dedicated to this whole Eleanor-Fernando relationship.

05:13And to be quite honest with you, I wasn't really all that interested. Because it was very slow and

05:19drawn out. Yes, it seemed quite authentic. But as an overall viewing experience, you know,

05:28I found it pretty dull. Anyways, the movie continued on. We saw some shenanigans going on

05:35that involved an engagement ring. But it really wasn't till the end of the movie that things started

05:41to really pick up. The mother, who was playing by actress Arshini Konjin, was stressed. She'd had

05:48enough of her two daughters causing trouble and decided to pack up and head home. The girls were,

05:55of course, upset that their vacation had ended abruptly. But as I said, the mother had had enough.

06:03She was too stressed to continue on playing referee between the two. So the mum parked up and went to

06:10sleep while her two daughters sat in the car in silence next to her. They were the only ones in

06:17the parking lot. No one seemed to be around. So overall, it seemed safe. But out of nowhere,

06:25we saw this crazed maniac randomly show up with an axe and started attacking the car. This maniac

06:32smashed through the windscreen and hacked Eleanor to death right in front of her sister.

06:39Anais seemed to be in this total state of shock as this maniac then turned his attentions to the

06:48mother and strangled her to death. Now, prior to watching Fat Girl, I did actually go online and

06:55read some non-spoiler reviews. So yes, going into this movie, I knew that something pretty dramatic

07:04happened at the end. But even I didn't expect to see what I did. I think what caught me off

07:14guard

07:14was just the level of brutality that we saw in such quick succession. I mean, the POV of the axe

07:24coming over Eleanor's head. I mean, that was pretty gruesome, to say the least. I mean,

07:32everything just went from zero to 100 so quickly. I think even I was in a little bit of a

07:38state of

07:39shock from what I was seeing. So the final moments of the movie saw this crazed maniac sexually

07:47assault Anais in some nearby bushes. The authorities then later showed up and found her disheveled and

07:56injured. While it was obvious as to what had happened, in one final twist, we saw Anais maintain

08:04that she had not been sexually assaulted by anyone. I will admit, when I first saw the ending, I was

08:13pretty confused because obviously, you know, we had seen the sexual assault take place. So why was

08:20Anais, the victim, you know, why was she lying? You know, there's a lot to unpack here. But before we

08:29get into the ending, I want to add some context to how I see things. Because it's quite clear to

08:37me

08:37that the Anais character was clearly suffering from some sort of mental health issue. Anais was clearly

08:46insecure about the way she looked and basically used comfort eating as a way to suppress her anxiety.

08:56But what didn't help was the fact that her family throughout the whole movie basically ridiculed her

09:03and made fun of her weight. I mean, for example, there was a scene at the breakfast table where we

09:10saw

09:11Anais pile on a load of food onto her plate and Eleanor, you know, publicly criticized her in front

09:18of everyone. I mean, you know, it shouldn't have really have been a big deal. But Eleanor, the older

09:26sister, just couldn't keep her snide remarks to herself. I mean, I've got a sister and, you know,

09:34the whole idea of publicly shaming, you know, your sibling in front of everyone. Yeah, it's a pretty

09:42scummy thing to do, especially if they're suffering from some sort of internal, you know, issue. And I

09:49was also kind of surprised that no other family members stepped in to support Anais. I mean, it was

09:56almost like the whole family were ganging up on her. Clearly that, you know, type of abuse affected her

10:03personally. And, you know, it just made her eat more. It just, you know, compounded the situation.

10:11And yeah, I mean, that was just one scene I just talked about. I mean, there was loads of little

10:18seeds throughout the whole movie that, you know, saw the family from the sister to the mother to the

10:24father, you know, all criticizing Anais, which, you know, definitely seemed very unfair. You know,

10:31she was subjected to some really hurtful comments. But more importantly, those hurtful comments came

10:41from her family. You know, the people that are supposed to be there and to support her. And,

10:48you know, for me, watching this, the only question I had was, how long exactly has this sinister

10:55behavior been going on? It was a sad sight to see. And, you know, make no mistake, this wasn't some

11:02tough love approach by the family. This was simply just unwarranted abuse. I mean, there was a scene

11:13that I have to mention where we saw Eleanor basically force feed some bread to her younger sister.

11:20The visual of Eleanor, you know, stuffing bread down Anais's mouth actually was quite disturbing when

11:30you really kind of understand all of the context. I mean, Eleanor knew that her younger sister had some

11:39issues regarding food. I mean, whether it be some sort of eating disorder or what have you,

11:45Eleanor knew that, yet she just made things worse. I guess the best analogy I could come up with

11:52would be if your sibling was an alcoholic and, you know, you then started giving them beers all the

12:01time. I mean, it's just a recipe for disaster. I guess in a way you could describe the Anais character

12:10like a sponge, you know, just absorbing all the negative energy around her and then internalizing

12:18it. You just had to feel bad for the character because, you know, especially when you get abused

12:25from your family. Yeah, that's tough. And at the end of the day, everyone should be able to rely on

12:35their family members for support. So the fact that she wasn't, um, yeah, it was, um, pretty, uh, pretty

12:42disturbing. So understanding all of that context and nuance, and then going back to the ending,

12:50Anais's reaction to the murders of her mother and her sister, that was, that was pretty telling.

12:56There was no yelling. There was no screaming. Just this kind of cold stare. And let's face it,

13:06that is not a normal reaction for someone who would basically witness their family being killed in

13:13front of them. Most people would be, you know, immediately screaming or trying to escape the car,

13:19but Anais just, just sat there. Now, like I said, clearly the character was dealing from some sort of

13:27mental illness because, you know, she'd become so detached from her real emotions. In that moment,

13:37she couldn't react accordingly to what she was seeing. It was like Anais was so consumed with this

13:46inner turmoil that witnessing some, you know, sudden random act of violence, it just didn't register in

13:54her brain. And I think that would also explain Anais's reaction the next morning, um, when she

14:02basically denied that she was sexually assaulted. And the reason that she denied it was because she was

14:08mentally unstable and not in touch with her cognitive emotions. So when I watched this,

14:16this ending for the first time, it really kind of caught me off guard because I just wasn't

14:21expecting it. So I then decided to go back and rewatch it again and, you know, try and dissect

14:27exactly what was going on here. And I kind of think it could be argued that this whole final sequence

14:36at

14:36the end potentially could have been a dream sequence. You know, the reason I say that is because it's quite

14:44plausible that Anais could have just fallen asleep in the back of the car and her disturbed brain,

14:52you know, created this nightmarish scenario in her head. I mean, if it were to be a dream after all,

15:00it would certainly make sense given Anais's reaction to the murders. Clearly, she resented

15:07her family. So maybe this was Anais's warped brain, you know, using or creating this, this dream as

15:18some sort of coping mechanism. Yeah, I can't be sure that this actually was a dream sequence, but, um,

15:25if it were, it certainly would make more sense. But either way, I guess it's open to interpretation.

15:31When it comes to the performances in the movie, I thought the actress Anais Rebu did a very good job

15:40playing the bullied younger sister. She obviously had a very limited acting background, but I actually

15:48thought that given her limitations, she actually brought a lot of realism to the overall film. And

15:56that was definitely a positive. By using her body language and facial expressions, Rebu was able to

16:03convey this awkward, shy young girl who was trying to juggle her complexed feelings. And I will say

16:12for a debut performance, I was pretty impressed by Anais Rebu. And I'm kind of surprised that she

16:21would go on to have any sort of film career. As for actress Roxanne Musquida, she did a great job

16:28playing the self-absorbed older sister, Eleanor. Her character embodied the traditional ideals of what

16:38beauty is, which was the complete contrast to her sister Anais. While indeed, Eleanor was very cruel and

16:47mean to her younger sister, there was definitely a vulnerability about the Eleanor character that was

16:57brilliantly conveyed by Miss Squida. Now, it's clear that the director, Catherine Brylett, used the Eleanor

17:05character to reflect the social pressures that young women face today in regards to losing their

17:12virginity. That definitely was refreshing this, you know, this different take on it by Catherine Brylett.

17:18And I appreciated that because it shed some light onto this issue, you know, where young women,

17:27especially, you know, seek this sexual validation and they don't need to. It really isn't that

17:34important. And so, dislikes for Fat Girl from 2001. My biggest dislike for the film would have to be

17:43the overall story structure with the slow pace throughout the movie and then this abrupt violent

17:51climax. As much as I didn't mind the whole Eleanor-Fernando relationship, just way too much time was spent

18:01on it, which at times left me feeling pretty restless. I mean, let's face it, the story only really got

18:10going at the very end when this madman came out of nowhere and attacked the family. But besides that,

18:17what you're left with was this drama about this relationship that, you know, didn't really go

18:24anywhere. I mean, just from watching the movie and then, you know, taking some time to reflect,

18:30I just thought it would have been so much better if the murders had happened a lot sooner, you know,

18:37because then we could have seen the aftermath and it just would have been a lot more interesting.

18:43So, ratings for Fat Girl from 2001. I'm going to be rating this movie a solid 5.5 out of

18:5310.

18:54Fat Girl, directed by Katherine Brylett, was a compelling story that explored the themes of

19:01womanhood and mental health. I just didn't like how it was executed on screen with the minimal

19:08editing and these long drawn-out sequences that really slowed the pace down. I mean, from a technical

19:16standpoint, this is a very good movie. It's a well-made movie. And Katherine Brylett,

19:22as a director, should be commended. Absolutely. It's just, when I think about it, you know,

19:29the story is pretty thin and it only really picks up at the very end. So, for the most of

19:36the movie,

19:37I don't know, it was lacking some energy. If you've seen Fat Girl, then please let me know

19:44your thoughts and memories in the comments section below. For those who haven't, this is

19:49a recommendation from me. I definitely think it's worth checking out for sure. But, you know,

19:56with the subject matter, I think some people should be aware that you may feel pretty miserable after

20:04watching it. And well, that's all from me today, guys. I do hope you've enjoyed this review of Fat

20:10Girl from 2001. I will, of course, be back next week with another cult movie review. Don't forget

20:17to like and subscribe. Big, big thank you to all my current and new subscribers. Thank you so much

20:23for your support. And, of course, I'll see you next week. Take care.

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