Lila Says

Don't hate her because she is beautiful...

Lila Says is about an arabic teen,Chimo, in the slums of france who hangs around with some guys who do petty crimes to keep themselves entertained. He is the shy one of the group and seems to have a higher moral ground than his buddies. They discover a new girl in the area and his best friend pursues her while she, unprompted by Chimo, pursues Chimo with unexpectedly frank sexual come-ons. Is she crazy? Is she a prostitute? Was she sexually abused? Is she just sexually explicit with words to get attention but actually has never had sex? She is drawn to Chimo because he is shy and because while he is intrigued by her come-ons, he even entertains some of her requests submissively, he never reaches out to do anything to her. He just lets her do what she wants, when she wants. He also is starting to fall in love with her just as his best friend pursues her even more, and his friend goes about it like a stereotypical sex crazed cad.

Chimo is poor and needs to earn some money, his mom thinks he should write. His teacher had suggested that he attend a school for writing and could get in free by writing them a sample. He writes about what Lila says. This movie is based on the book that he wrote about her (what I cannot tell is if Chimo is real but the movie plays out like he wrote the book to gain entrance to writing school).

The movie is shocking, haunting, and makes you wonder what is in the mind of this young girl that would make her like this..is her beauty to blame for what brought about her supersexual behavior?

This movie has English subtitles so if that bothers you, still watch this movie..it is good. Or...read the book!