ONLINE SALES NOW CLOSED - TICKETS ON THE DOOR FROM 5:30PM.

Off the Wall Films in partnership with the Bath-Aix Twinning Association presents

PEPPERMINT SODA

(Diabolo Menthe)

Diane Kurys, France, 1977, 101m, 12A, sub-titles, FFF-rated

NB - Doors at 5:30pm for a 6:30pm start.

1963. Following a Normandy beach summer with their estranged father, Anne, 13, and her sister Frédérique, 15, return to Paris to start the new school year. Reined in by a strict mother and terrorised by a collection of brutal, idiotic teachers, Anne is mystified by the adult world yet longs to be a part of it. Éléanore Klarwein as Anne perfectly captures the bewilderment of adolescence. Her only way forward mediated by an older sister who regards Anne as a pest, she vents her frustration with acts of rebellion, but as the eventful year closes and the sisters return to Normandy there’s a sense that Anne will prevail. Based on detailed memories of her own schooldays, rookie director Kurys builds her film as a series of vivid episodes locked in time yet timeless. Attracting an audience of 70,000 and winning the Louis Delluc Prize in its first week of release, this consummate coming-of-age comedy-drama was a huge surprise hit.

'Kurys, at the time a disillusioned actress-writer who reportedly had never held any kind of camera before, showed a remarkable assurance visually and rhythmically when mixing the serious with the playful’ - The Los Angeles Times.

'…a stellar example of the coming-of-age format’ - Battleship Pretension.

'The only thing more impressive than the wit and talent Diane Kurys demonstrates in her writing and direction of Peppermint Soda — an expert, utterly charming movie that miraculously happens to be her first — is Miss Kurys's memory. Here is a letter-perfect recollection of what it's like to be a 13-year-old…’ - Janet Maslin, The New York Times.

'…Kurys must be applauded for telling her story the way she remembers it, and for creating a film filled with so many moments of quiet, poignant authenticity’ – filmfanatic.org.

'Éléanore Klarwein (who plays Anne) is a wonderful actress, capable of a giddy array of petulant pouts, girlish smirks and expressions of scarcely masked bewilderment' – The Boston Phoenix.

‘Kurys’s debut film taps into the emotional insecurities and social turmoil that accompany the awkward biological developments of adolescence with a disarming sweetness and subtlety’ – Slant Magazine.

Presented in partnership with the Bath-Aix Twinning Association.

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Carers' tickets - we offer complimentary tickets to carers of people with disabilities. If you would like to attend the screening along with the person in your care please message  offthewall@gmx.co.uk  with your request for a ticket. Please note - you are eligible for this offer only if you are accompanied by a paying person with disabilities.