The narrative of “Little Trouble Girls” is shaped by a Catholic school’s female choir trip across the Italian border and the reactions of a few students to the situation in which they have been placed. The film sees Slovenian director Urška Djukić skillfully rework the cliched subject of the sexual awakening of an introverted, virginal 16-year-old adolescent, Lucija (played by newcomer Jara Sofija Ostan). The students rehearse in a remote nunnery for the concert, and Lucija’s newly bursting sexual desires (her silent interest in a handsome construction worker, whose T-shirt she steals) get tangled up with her religious beliefs, and her sleep becomes turbulent.
Lucija becomes friendly with a more sexually experienced, cynical, and charismatic Ana-Marie (Mina Svajger), who talks of menstruation and of sin as “sour grapes” and tantalizes Lucija with lipstick and a bit of sapphic flirtation. It all creates more sexual confusion for Lucija. (She also speaks to a nun, who tells her a woman’s body is sacred, which only muddles Lucija’s relationship to sexuality further.)
The film is lushly and complexly shot, which helps create its sexual tension and visual interest, and in addition, it has a striking musical score and sound design.
Lucija is reflective and observant but has not yet worked out what sex means to her. She tries to confide in the extremely demanding choirmaster (Saša Tabaković). Clearly a mistake, because he is insensitive and insidious and just harshly dismisses her and tells her to stick to her work. Ultimately, he just drops her from the choir.
For a first film, Djukić has made a strikingly professional one. The film was a big prize winner at the Berlin and Tribeca film festivals and is Slovenia’s official Oscar entry for Best International Feature.
What limits the film is that the character of Lucija needs more development. She may be repressed and inexperienced, but she is also willing to make a gesture at committing suicide. It is insufficient to close the film with someone as complicated as Lucija going off to an open-ended future on roller skates.
Despite my carping, this is a film worth seeing.
