She Monkeys.

The movie is set on the coast of Sweden during the long nights of summer and involves fifteen-year-old Emma (Mathilda Paradeiser) and her seven-year-old sister Sara (Isabella Lindquist). Both live with their father who tends to be absent most of the time. When Emma tries out for the local equestrian gymnastic squad she meets the teenage Cassandra (Linda Molin) who is everything Emma wants to be, good looking, confident and popular. The two girls form a strangely intense relationship that borders on something both sinister and sensual.  Meanwhile Sara becomes more acutely aware of her sexuality and falls in love with her teenage cousin Sebastian.

When you read that a film takes its influences from Catherine Breillat’s A ma soeur (2001) and the 1928 novella Story of the Eye by George Bataille it is recommendation enough to seek out the film. But could you imagine my frustration when on viewing Lisa Aschan’s debut film She Monkeys (2012) I realised it completely lacked the erotica of either Breillat’s film or Bataille’s story.  In fact it turned out to be a movie that promised a great deal but delivered little. The stories components hinted at lesbian love, and graphic violence, none of which really materialized: disappointing!