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Lila Says
EMAILPRINTSamuel Goldwyn Films

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Foreign
Written by:
Ziad Doueiri
Mark Lawrence
Joelle Touma
Chimo (book)
Directed by: Ziad Doueiri
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 24, 2005
DVD: November 29, 2005
Running Time: 89 minutes, Color
Origin: France
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Vahina Giocante, Mohammed Khouas, Karim Ben Haddou, Edmonde Franchi, Lotfi Chakri, Hamid Dkhissi, Carmen Lebbos, and Stéphanie Fatout
Based on the best-selling and highly controversial French novel of the same name, Lila Says is an incredibly seductive story of sexual awakening. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Lila, played by Vahina Giocante, who resembles a sexed-up young Emma Thompson, is a teasing, 16-year-old blond baby doll with a gleam of perception beyond her years.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Both lead actors are wonderful, and director Ziad Doueiri (West Beirut) artfully addresses the cultural and even spiritual dimensions of the story without losing sight of the lovers' tenderness and confusion.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Eric Campos
This thoroughly engaging, if tragic, love story unfolds like a psychological striptease. The biggest challenge here is not to blush.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Jonathan Curiel
Doueiri sprinkles Lila Says with moments of humor and violence -- a mix that keeps the film fresh and unpredictable.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Superbly acted, especially by Giocante as the teasing 16-year-old instigator.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Lebanon-born director Ziad Doueiri, a camera operator on Quentin Tarantino's films, has a dreamy, fluid style he decorates with light electronic sounds -- from bands like Air -- that give this film more than a touch of youthful poetry.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Unsurprisingly, the camerawork in Lila Says is spectacular.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
Ms. Giocante's intoxicating mixture of gamine innocence and womanly knowingness is almost too much for the movie - Lila is surely too much for Chimo - but her charisma, and Mr. Doueiri's insouciant, heart-on-the-sleeve style give it a mood that is at once breathlessly romantic and cannily down to earth.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Vahina Giocante oozes a killer blend of purring, lascivious innocence and little-girl-lost vulnerability as Lila.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Raw, earthy yet tender and perceptive, Lila Says marks a strong directorial debut for Doueiri, who was Quentin Tarantino's camera operator on "Reservoir Dogs," "Pulp Fiction" and "Jackie Brown."
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
This coming-of-age tale is ultimately about self, not sex.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
It doesn't take an awareness of the ethnic and cultural differences between the miniskirted siren and the shy Arab youth to see that she might be more than he can handle.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves
Far less interesting than its premise, primarily because we never know what anyone is really thinking.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The story's message is less than profound, but it's vividly delivered.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Had director Ziad Doueiri focused on the resentful Arab youths who clatter provocatively around the edges of his Marseilles-set drama, he might have discovered something interesting.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Richard James Havis
Results in a film that's more exploitative than sympathetic. Compared to the works of fellow Francophone directors Catherine Briellat and Clare Denis, Doueiri's depiction of female sexuality in Lila Says is both wooden and pat.
Read Full Review >The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
The picture's effect: the sexual element is trenchant, while the status of Muslim youth registers strongly.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
The result, although more sexually provocative, is not nearly as gratifying as was his (Ziad Doueiri) breakthrough film.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
One long tease, not just because it keeps promising sex it doesn't deliver. It teases at deeper themes and cultural commentary.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
[Anonymous] gave it a10:
Beautifully captivating. Reminisant of youth. Poetry on film. Elegant, fierce, dreamy.
K Hil gave it a9:
Beautiful movie, the first one that has really engaged my intellect in quite a long time. At first glance there is barely a story beyond teen agnst (if even that), but there are so many levels to analyze Lila on. Does she represent the separation between good and evil? Is she really an angel, rewarding those who are good and excluding those who are bad. She seems to be an agent of the earth and nature but also of a higher being... her sexuality, though not even her own, is not inherently good or bad, but a representation of the female and of, paradoxically, innocence. A fantastic film.
Al P. gave it a10:
Superior work in this film, with a moving end, and camera work that leaves nothing to chance, apart from maybe one's imagination. Excellent movie.. excellent execution and congratulations to Vahina and Ziad.!
Melissa K. gave it a4:
beautifuly shot but the female character is so one dimensional- she is just a temptress--even almost in the bibical sense of how so many depict women as the seducers of poor innocent men. And she pays the price of course by being raped. All this could be acceptable her relentless character grew and became more real--more human-but she just remains the blond temptress.a one dimensional vison created in the mind of yet another male writer. Because I don't think a woman could or would have written a female character quite this way.
masha gave it a9:
Extremely engaging, shocking, and passionate depiction of young love and the loss of innocence.
