Anna (Clara Augarde), a withdrawn, Catholic schoolgirl is coping with her parents' divorce and a bedridden grandfather (Michel Galabru). Having shared a close relationship with the old man, his ailing health pains her deeply. While Anna’s mother (French singer Lio) confides in the local parish priest, Father Francois (Stefano Cassetti), who was once her childhood love, the fourteen year old herself faces her confirmation into the Catholic faith. However, her blossoming sexuality combined with family troubles and a budding romance with an altar boy named Pierre (Youen Leboulanger-Gourvil) lead Anna to reassess her relationship with God.
Remember that children’s choral cover version of Radiohead’s “Creep” from the trailer for The Social Network (2010)? Well, it was originally in Love Like Poison. Those lyrics lay bare the young heroine’s dilemma: “I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul." This sensitive coming of age drama bravely plunges into two topics guaranteed to make people feel awkward: religion and teenage sex. Yet French writer-director Katell Quillévéré tackles these heavy issues with a disarmingly light touch. There is an honesty about the film’s devotion to capturing all the recognisably uncomfortable moments in life that arise not only from adolescence but divorce, parenthood, old age and relationships. At one point Anna is left mortified while sponge-bathing her grandfather when the old man has an erection. More disturbingly, he later asks her to reveal “the place where I come from”, but the film wisely avoids heading down the Catherine Breillat path as an oppressive study of feminine sexuality under duress. Quillévéré depicts Anna’s nascent sexuality and developing body with earthy honesty, but without recourse to prurience.
Clara Augarde gives a wholly naturalistic performance as a believably awkward, conflicted teenager. Her relationship with Pierre unfolds in a realistic manner sadly uncommon in mainstream teen cinema: a giddy rush of fumbling embarassment, thrills, confusion, remorse and joy. There is a charming scene where young, would-be Casanova Pierre serenades Anna in his bedroom with an endearingly open-hearted love song. As a crisis of faith drama, the film proves equally well-balanced. It avoids the obvious trap of portraying Father Francois as a clown or a hypocrite. In fact he outlines his faith with clarity and gently persuasive reasoning, and even wins over Pierre and the local kids with his mad skills on the football field. Nevertheless the film remains, perhaps justly, scathing about the Church and its perception of sexual desire as a mortal sin, without which Anna’s reticence might not be an issue.
Quillévéré’s attempt to juggle multiple subplots means the drama sometimes lacks focus and remains strongest while adhering to Anna’s point of view. The story takes some jarring leaps forward in time that render a few plot turns a little vague. Also some viewers might feel frustrated the film’s ending leaves it ambiguous whether Anna has simply renounced her faith or instead found a balance between her physical desires and spiritual needs. However, it does feature one splendid, simultaneously sad, funny and uplifting scene where Anna sings probably one of the least appropriate songs for a funeral.
It wasn't a children's choir singing the Social Network trailer cover of Creep, it was a Belgian women's choir under the umbrella title Scala and Kolacny Brothers who specialise in such things.
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