“Underage females who engage in promiscuous behavior” doesn’t exist as a major genre, but it seems like one that vanished over the years given more sensitivity about the topic. For a take on the subject from an era with a different POV, we go to 1980’s Girls.

Teens Suzanne (Charlotte Walior), Annie (Zoé Chauveau) and Catherine (Anne Parillaud) form a group of friends. They spend evenings at clubs with an ever-changing roster of romantic partners.

Suzanne’s younger sister Betty (Isabelle Mejias) often joins them and ends up in her own sexual dalliances. Her age and lack of birth control become complications in her efforts.

Boy, that doesn’t sound like much of a plot, does it? Based on my summary, one might assume Girls provides a cautionary tale about teens who push sexual boundaries and learn lessons.

But that would be the American version, wouldn’t it? A French film seems less likely to follow moralistic paths, especially one made more than 45 years ago.

As mentioned at the start, society viewed antics like those depicted in Girls as less controversial in decades past. This becomes more true for movies made in Europe than those in the US.

To my surprise, Girls lacks graphic sexual content. We see the main characters as they fool around and we find the occasional topless shot but the material feels surprisingly tame.

Girls does hold back from judgment of the leads as they enjoy their romantic escapades. Their parents get off less easily, though, as the movie hints at flaws in their treatment of their offspring.

Not much of this works, mainly because the teen characters all tend to blend into one. Betty stands out somewhat due to her age, and the film gives her a pregnancy subplot.

Otherwise, though, the three leads seem like all basically the same person. Minor differences emerge but not enough to turn any of them into compelling personalities.

Other than the Betty domain, we really find little plot on display here. Girls basically delivers a mix of semi-related and mainly comedic scenes in search of purpose the movie never finds.

Of course, Girls decides it needs a Big Dramatic Climax. It that feels wholly out of place given the prior 75 minutes of frivolity.

With flat characters, a minimal plot and little provocative material, Girls fails to coalesce into an involving tale. While it aspires to “coming of age” territory, it never develops the roles or scenarios in a manner beyond the most basic.

Girls appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though it showed its age, the movie came with generally positive visuals.

A big scratch showed up in the middle of the screen for the film’s first two minutes. After that, though, I witnessed no print flaws, and grain seemed appropriate and occasionally heavy.

Sharpness fared pretty well for the most part. While the image could lean a little soft – mainly during scenes with the most grain – the flick generally boasted appealing delineation.

No signs of jagged edges or moiré effects appeared. Edge haloes also remained absent.

Girls opted for a natural palette, one that delivered more vibrant tones during club scenes. The disc rendered these in a reasonably vivid manner.

Blacks seemed deep and dense, while shadows offered acceptable clarity. Nothing here formed a visual showcase but the image held up fine.

In addition, the movie’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack seemed more than adequate given the project’s age. Speech could feel a little reedy but the lines lacked obvious edginess and remained intelligible.

Music became moderately peppy, and effects showed acceptable accuracy, without prominent distortion. While the track didn’t excel, it became workable for a film from 1980.

As we head to extras, we open with an audio commentary from film historian Jeremy Richey. He provides a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and crew, genre domains, production details and his thoughts on the film.

Richey makes this a pretty productive discussion. He touches on appropriate domains and does so in an engaging and informative manner.

We get more from Richey in Who Was Just Jaeckin?, an 18-minute, 23-second “video essay” in which the film historian discusses the filmmaker's life and career. Some of this repeats from the commentary but Richey nonetheless delivers a good overview.

From 2022, the Last Interview with Just Jaeckin spans 16 minutes, 54 seconds and brings the director’s thoughts about his career. We find a worthwhile chat here.

Shot in 2025, we also get a 20-minute, 48-second Interview with Actor Isabelle Mejias in which she talks about how she got her role, her experiences during the shoot and her subsequent career. I like the actor's insights but the reel comes with way too many unnecessary movie clips to pad its length.

A 1980 French talk show Archival Interview spans four minutes, 39 seconds and involves Jaeckin and actor Anne Parillaud, Zoé Chauveau, and Charlotte Walior. They don't tell us much of value but this exists as a decent glimpse of the film's promotion.

Under German Cut, we learn that Jaeckin replaced Philippe Klébert with Claus Obalski as Jérôme for the version of Girls that ran in Germany. This 25-minute, 49-second compilation lets us see these alternate scenes so it becomes an interesting variant.

The disc concludes with trailers for Madame Claude, The Island Closest to Heaven, The Debut, My Nights with Susan, Sandra, Olga and Julie and The Key. No trailer for Girls appears here.

In theory, Girls presents a ‘coming of age’ narrative about teens on the verge of womanhood. However, that gives this sketchy and nearly plot-free affair more credit than it deserves, as the end product doesn’t bring interesting characters or situations. The Blu-ray comes with largely positive picture and audio as well as a mix of supplements. Girls lacks drive and purpose.