Book & Film: Mémoire de fille
Paris, 2020. Annie Ernaux is invited to sign copies of her latest book in Rouen, the city where she grew up. That return takes her back to the summer of 1958, when she was seventeen. As a girl from a Catholic family in the French countryside, Annie wants to break free from her familiar surroundings.
She starts working as a counselor at a summer camp, determined to gain new experiences and push her boundaries. But reality turns out differently. Among the other counselors, Annie stands out because of her innocence and naivety, which quickly makes her a target. The slightly older, attractive head counselor singles out Annie as his next conquest and manages to seduce her into sleeping with him.
It is Annie’s first sexual experience, but her deflowering is anything but tender. The experience continues to haunt her for decades, and the shame and humiliation leave deep scars on her identity. By revisiting her past, Annie tries to better understand the seventeen-year-old girl she once was, and to discover how memories can become permanently embedded in the body.
