Diabolo Menthe (Peppermint Soda). 1977. France. Directed by Diane Kurys. Screenplay by Kurys, Alain Le Henry. Eléonore Klarwein, Odile Michel, Anouk Ferjac. DCP. Digital restoration courtesy Cohen Media. In French; English subtitles. 97 min.
In 1963 Paris, 13-year-old Anne (Eleonore Klarwein) is a listless student, largely unconcerned with grades—or the Cold War anxiety hovering over daily life. She lives with her divorcée mother (Anouk Ferjac) and increasingly politically aware older sister Frédérique (Odile Michel), and wants most of all to wear stockings, sit in cafés, and spy on her sister. Diane Kurys’s tenderly crafted, autobiographical directorial debut is by turns sweet and solemn, delicately honing in on the quiet loneliness of trying to find oneself in the early years of teenagehood.