A Single Girl (1995)

Early one morning Valerie has to tell her unemployed boyfriend Remi that she is pregnant. She has decided to keep the child, but they argue whether they should break up or not. That same morning Valerie starts working in room service at a smart hotel. The film follows the routine of Valerie bringing breakfast to the guests, Valerie constantly trying to phone her mother, and Valerie's relations with the other staff.This was the breakthrough role for the 19-year-old Virginie Ledoyen, best known in America for the Danny Boyle film "The Beach", and earned her a César Award nomination. It was well-deserved. This is a great film, with no real plot or structure... just a look at love and the life of a girl in real time. And, you know what? Ledoyen is the selling point. Anyone else in the role and who knows what would have happened? I will have to be on the lookout for her in other films, because she clearly has that spark...

It is good thing Ledoyen is a seriously babe-a-licious hottie because she fills up every frame of this tedious and uneventful nonstory. In "A Single Girl", the camera follows Valérie (Ledoyen) around in real time, dogging her as she walks and walks and works and talks and walks and works and smokes and talks and works some more. This exercise in pure voyeurism shows us Valérie as she sits in a cafe telling her boyfriend she's pregnant. It shows her going to her new job as a room service waitress in a hotel...no cutaways, no fast forwards; just a continuum - every step she takes, down the street, around the corner, etc. We watch her put on her uniform and begin work...etc. On and on until about the 1:25 mark when we cut to a new day and Valérie, whose child is now a toddler, as she's talking with her mom in a park. Shortly thereafter the film ends. No story, just voyeurism. For what it is, it is very well done. Sound good? If so, watch it. If not, don't. (C+)

I cought this movie on late nigth television, and it really grabbed me. I never knew the name untill I found it here. I was impressed by the simplicity and the fact that I never actually got bored of seeing the lead actress walking through corridors. It's a realistic movie, low budget and i really liked it.

"La Fille seule" is an absolute gem of a film that is particularly fascinating because its structural simplicity belies a complex, multi-layered character study. And the subject of writer/director Jacquot's scrutiny is a headstrong, independent young woman who, while acknowledging her vulnerability in the face of several personal crises, refuses to sit idly by and play the victim. The camera utterly adores actress Virginie Ledoyen (who portrays Valerie with raw vibrance), which is perhaps why there is never a dull moment in a film that was shot in real time so that viewers could get a glimpse of even the most trivial of daily tasks that Valerie undertakes. What is also interesting is Jacquot's low-keyed exploration of sexual harassment in the workplace and of how brief, chance encounters with strangers can have long-term effects on our personal attitudes and perceptions.