Symphony Space (Venue Partner)
2537 Broadway
212.864.5400
This event has passed.
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Stella
- When
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Saturday Mar 6, 2010 (7pm)
- Where
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Directions: Subway: 1,2,3, B, C trains to 96th Street (two stops from Times Square on 2,3 trains). Bus: M104 up- or downtown to 94th Street; M96 crosstown to Broadway
- Price
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$12 Adults, $9 Members
- Links
France, Sylvie Verheyde, 2008, 102 Min.
Recommended Ages: 14 to Adult
In this wonderfully tender, autobiographical coming-of-age story, a precocious young girl made wise beyond her years from a bohemian upbringing is forced to adjust when she enters a wealthy private school. Stella's parents run a working-class bar filled with a revolving mix of artists, vagrants and drunks - so although she is flunking out of school, she has gained an alternate education in card games, cocktail recipes and pop music. Her world-weary attitude writes off most of her classmates as impossibly dull. The one exception is her new friend Gladys, who introduces Stella to Cocteau and Balzac, and awakens in her a newfound desire to escape the dissolute home life that continually threatens to drag her down.
The film features stunning cinematography, with an ethereal light that makes even the grimy bar floors and wood-paneled hotel rooms look like beautiful postcards to a bygone era, and is backed by a superb instrumental soundtrack infused with French disco hits. But the true standout is newcomer Léora Barbara, whose multifaceted performance as the wryly philosophical Stella is both prickly and loveable, a charming outsider you want desperately to succeed.
Please note, this film includes strong language, some sexual suggestiveness, violence, and adults frequently drinking and smoking.
