La Petit Sirene

An enchanting tale of obsession that stars Alexis as a 14-year-old schoolgirl who sets her sights on Leotard, a 40-year-old mechanic, after he whistles at her prettier cousin. Alexis thinks she is the one he whistled at and begins to follow him around Paris. Patterning her obsession on both Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Little Mermaid" and Francois Truffaut's 1975 film THE STORY OF ADELE H., Alexis retreats into a fantasy world. Eventually, however, Leotard is drawn into her world, and the two engage in a sexual relationship. Released in France in 1980, LA PETIT SIRENE succeeds chiefly because of the alluring performance of Alexis, an American girl living in...