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Vahina Giocante, mohammed Khouas, Karim Ben Haddou, Lofti Chakri, Houd Dkhissi ... see more see more... , Barbara Chossis , Bruno Esposito , Carmen Lebbos , Dominique Bluzet , Edmonde Franchi , Ghandi Assad , Hamid Dkhissi , Lotfi Chakri , Stephanie Fatout

A self-styled bad girl leads a teenage boy down a frustrating path in this drama from France. Chimo Jarjoura (Mohammed Khouas) is a 19-year-old student living in Marseilles. Chimo likes to write and h... read more read more...as genuine talent, but he hasn't been able to break away from his friends Mouloud (Karim Ben Haddou), Big Jo (Houd Dkhissi), and Bakary (Lofti Chakri), who are more interested in petty crime than in building a future and are suspicious of Chimo's non-Muslim teachers. One day Chimo meets a 16-year-old girl named Lila (Vahina Giocante), and is immediately smitten, especially when she makes it clear she's attracted to him. However, while Chimo falls head over heels for Lila, he soon discovers she's far more interested in talk than action, and that she isn't eager to limit her attentions to one man. Lila Says made its North American debut at the 2004 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

77% liked it

2,701 ratings

Critics

68% liked it

40 critics

R, 1 hr. 29 min.

Directed by: Ziad Doueiri

Release Date: June 24, 2005

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DVD Release Date: November 29, 2005

Stats: 195 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (195)

  • kiriyamakazou
    November 11, 2008
    kiriyamakazou
    For the most part a fantastic tale of interracial romance during a time of suspicion and conflict. The Arabs are seen as terrorists or luxurious accessories for French women. Lila (obvious similarity to Lolita) is a sexually awakened girl. She talks confidently and with pride abo... read moreut her sexual encounters and fantasies. This doesn't sit easy with the young man who has fallen for her. Chimo must constantly deal with his arrogant and testosterone fueled friends. The final scenes are heartbreaking if slightly obvious and the character of Mouloud is really a device as opposed to a person. Though he is obviously offended by the way his people are treated he seems to go too far without explanation. Whether it's his lust for Lila or his jealousy of Chimo that spurns him on is left blank and us unfulfilled. The setting in a poor area of Marseilles is bitter sweet in its beauty of narrow streets and tall buildings. Excellent performances from Giocante and Khouas create a well built chemistry that plays out believably until the end credits.
  • gator681
    October 8, 2006
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]In "Lila Says", Chimo(Mohammed Khouas) is a 19-year old living a dead end life with his mother(Carmen Lebbos) while his hanging out with friends occasionally enters the realm of petty crime. His teacher(Stephanie Fatout) thinks he has a talent for writing an... read mored wants him to apply to a prestigious school in Paris but Chimo feels that he has nothing to write about. That all changes when Lila(Vahina Giocante), a sexually precocious teenager with a penchant for exposing herself, moves into the neighborhood...[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]"Lila Says" is an unexpectedly poignant movie about first love and how we learn to express ourselves.(For example, Lila expresses herself sexually while Chimo has no idea until Lila shows up. But I've seen too many independent movies to know better and a single line of dialogue from "Orlando" singlehandledly refutes the whole theory behind muses.) And the movie does err by being predictable and trying to have an explanation for almost everything.[/font]
  • ileo
    June 6, 2008
    ileo
    An interesting movie! A story of coming of age and discovering love for the first time. Chimo is young and indecisive about choices in life, but everything changes when he meets Lila. He begins to see things differently, and starts to act and not just dream. Great! Intriguing sto... read morery plot. Great music! Nitin Sawhney does not disappoint. A must-see!
  • TonyPolito
    November 20, 2010
    TonyPolito
    Despite any description anywhere to the contrary, there is no NR Region 1 flavor of the film. Sony fogged and/or clipped all visual sexual content in order to distribute a film well inside the R rating.

    A 19 year-old Marseilles man (Khouas) idles away life in his Arab banlieue ... read more(ie, ghetto) with three pals who are more natural at being low-life hoodlums than he. His French teacher asks him to submit a novella to gain admittance to a writer's school in Paris, but he declines, as it is easier for "a loser to stay with losers."

    However Paris won't be denied - and it immediately arrives in the form of Lila (Giacante), a gorgeous 16 year-old blonde Lolita. Giacante's no small talker when it comes to her sexual persona, making her every young man's dream come true - and a dream that compels Khouas to steal a notebook and start a diary.

    Each meeting with Lila reveals to Khouas yet another, more prurient layer of Giacante's desires and experiences. As Khouas slowly becomes ever more enraptured and consumed by his Parisian Muse, Giacante also becomes the cause of a widening rift between Khouas and the street life that is the only world he has ever known.

    The viewer's patience is rewarded as, slowly, what Giacante is really truly saying to Khouas - and how she is saying it - is revealed.

    In this film, the plot's the thing; the acting is not terribly impressive. Aside from his voiceover narration, Khouas delivers the viewer mostly silence and emotionless expression. While Giacante is a sultry and captivating vision to behold, she plays her role more as the model than the actor.

    Recommended foremost on the strength of its crafted writing.
  • swimbikebeer
    March 2, 2010
    swimbikebeer
    good story of a teenage girl who has erotic fantasies and shares them with a young guy she admires. the young guy has jealous friends which complicate the matter. good french movie
  • aebulbul
    March 23, 2008
    aebulbul
    A lolita, a French Arab and confused feelings of love masked under an erotic guise. A story about monogamous relationships versus perversion. Chimo's writing is moving, but what is more moving are the events that transpire towards the end of the story

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Critic Reviews

Michael O'Sullivan
August 25, 2005
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post

As sweet as it is dirty. Full Review

Jonathan Curiel
July 22, 2005
Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle

Mostly succeeds in conveying the real- life risks that disgruntled teens will take to prove they're more powerful, more sexy and more in control than they really are. Full Review

Jessica Reaves
July 21, 2005
Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune

In the end, Lila Says is far less interesting than its premise, primarily because we never know what anyone is really thinking. Full Review

Wesley Morris
July 15, 2005
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

An underdeveloped exercise in carnal awakening that thinks its characters are far more special than they ever prove to be. Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
July 13, 2005
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

[An] unabashedly erotic cross-cultural love story. Full Review

Kevin Thomas
June 30, 2005
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Raw, earthy yet tender and perceptive, Lila Says marks a strong directorial debut for Doueiri. Full Review

Elizabeth Weitzman
June 24, 2005
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

You won't be as easily impressed. Full Review

Kyle Smith
June 24, 2005
Kyle Smith, New York Post

Thanks in part to the glow of mystery Doueiri gives her, it's impossible to take your eyes off Giocante and her arsenal of ruthless smiles.

Richard James Havis
June 24, 2005
Richard James Havis, Hollywood Reporter

A film that's more exploitative than sympathetic.

A.O. Scott
June 23, 2005
A.O. Scott, New York Times

The director has an intuitive, buoyant sympathy for young people. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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