In the US and other English speaking countries you had the “Breakfast Club”. In France we had a movie called “La Boum”, the ultimate 1980s teen movie. It was the movie that propelled Sophie Marceau into stardom. It had a very simple plot: teenage girl fancies boy and wants to have a party at her house and in parallel her parents are having marital problems… It all results in a happy ending. The whole package came with a catchy soundtrack and we all LOVED it.Some clever French Film writer has revived the idea and a film called LOL just came out in France; this time casting Sophie Marceau in the role of the mother instead of the daughter. I went to see it recently with a girlfriend (we loved it) and it turned out to be a very seminal moment in my life. I suddenly realised that I was not identifying with the teenage heroine but with her mother!!! I don’t think that has ever happened to me before. Granted she is a trendy, good looking mother… but still, I think I have finally realised that I am not a teenager anymore.
I think one of the reasons I have successfully been living in denial is because the lines between being a teenager and a 30 something woman have become a bit more blurred nowadays. Girls are growing up much faster and women our age are becoming old a lot later. I am still listening to the same music as 17-year-olds and I still buy my clothes in the same stores as they do. In fact mothers and teenage daughters swap clothes all the time nowadays. I would not have worn any of my mother’s clothes except the ones I found stuck at the back of the closet which were vintage circa 1968. A modern day mother is not a daggy person wearing sensible shoes and skirts anymore. We do wear sensible foot wear, they just happen to be ballerina flats and trainers.
But at the end of the day, clothes and music aside, I am a grown-up now and not a teenager. Though the revelation was a shock, I am quite liking the idea…. I won’t feel like I am missing out on something amazing if I don’t go out for a weekend and going to bed at 10 pm is OK and not uncool. I think I am going to enjoy accepting that I now am a grown up!
