Adolescence Backdrop Blur
Adolescence Poster
7.5 0h 22m

Adolescence

Adolescence is a 1966 French short documentary film directed by Marin Karmitz, about the teenage students of a famed ballet teacher. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Top Cast

  • Sonia Petrovna

    Sonia Petrovna

  • Maria Egorowa

    Maria Egorowa

  • Marielle Liberge

    Marielle Liberge

Overview

Adolescence is a 1966 French short documentary film directed by Marin Karmitz, about the teenage students of a famed ballet teacher. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Rating

7.5 / 10
2 Reviews
0 Popular

1 Reviews

  • CinemaSerf
    CinemaSerf
    6 Jan 7, 2026

    Maybe it was the dimly lit style of photography or perhaps the elderly, bescarfed, ballet coach who could readily have been called “Madame Suzatska”, but I thought that this had the look of a communist-era Eastern European documentary to it as we follow the teenage Sonia Petrovna as she starts on her journey to physical maturity. It uses ballet lessons and some beautiful Chopin, amongst others, to illustrate the tensions of growing up, of passing and failing, of striving and of making choices that might last a lifetime all whilst unsure whether she preferred to just browse the department stores or play with her kitten. There’s some noises-off style of dialogue, but for the most part there is just natural audio complementing the music and our observations of Sonia at play and at work. It doesn’t really try to establish or develop any characterisation for the girl, and at times I did feel a bit creepy watching like a fly on the wall, but there is some skill to see here and our own experiences of being that age helps to fill in the gaps.

Recommendations

Seduced and Abandoned

SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.

Seduced and Abandoned

6.2 2013