Goodbye First Love - a french romantic treat

It is such a treat when a random Sunday night movie turns out to be a real surprise. Despite a slightly cheesy title, I quickly relaxed into the subtle french romantic imagery. It is so easy to reimagine oneself as a stunning french 15 year old school girl being seduced by an older college student, who looks very calm and cool on his bike. Glimpses of inner city streets, an urban studio lovenest and several suburban family homes all created a sense of normal life... Of course, no teenage life can ever be normal and the inherent tension is just below the surface... Sullivan wants to drop out and travel to south america with his mates to explore and find himself; while Camille wants to build the long term dream of being with him, enjoying their french lifestyle in town and at her family's house in the mountains above the Loire river. It really is quite a simple story of how they both find themselves, reconnect and make somewhat more mature decisions. What is special is the aesthetics of beautiful places, clothes, settings and the quick screen catches of somewhat incidental events. The producer Mia Hansen-Love has captured the excitement of living on the brink of the rest of your life and charted the emotional roller coaster within the natural rhythm of life. Camille's romantic idealism and dependence gently gives way to a creative professional independence. Yet when they meet again, I was wondering how much they both really had changed - the tension was palpable - the challenge for them both was real and the question of the strength of first love asked again...