Without a wasted word or shot, the film is a master work that offers a complex portrait of two teens and their families as the boys deal with both coming out and coming of age.

| Dec 21, 2022

Being 17 is that most marvelous of finds, an instant classic on the subject French filmmakers have traditionally excelled at: truly messy love affairs.

| Jun 9, 2020

Though it eventually turns to a more customary realm than initially promised, there's a refreshing verve and chemistry between its key players.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 2, 2019

The film directed by André Téchiné also does a masterful job of capturing the confusion of adolescence and the general inability to put feelings into words at that age

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Sep 15, 2019

Instead of three acts, Téchiné divides the story into three trimesters, and while the artificial constructs only pile on from there, very little about the film feels false.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 1, 2019

Being 17 is not easy, but I look forward to Being 18 all the same to see where these guys end up.

| Feb 8, 2019

Being 17 is a thoughtful coming-of-age story with great performances, honest storytelling, beautiful cinematography and subtle direction that is sure to delight; if you can overlook its questionable morals.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 3, 2018

Being 17 is an exploration of masculinity and sensitivity at an age of uncertainty.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Oct 30, 2018

It's through performance and technique that Being 17 comes to life.

| Aug 28, 2018

A series of discoveries and hard truths.

| Aug 22, 2018

Being 17 cleverly embraces its own silliness in a way that is both reassuring and endlessly pleasurable.

| Jul 14, 2017

Attraction and repulsion are often close cousins, especially during that confusing teenage time when hormones rage and sexual longing is mixed with self-loathing. Andr Tchin's Being Seventeen captures the contradictions of this age perfectly.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 16, 2017

Its emotional beats strike honest notes, well played by the actors in the clutch moments...Tchin and Sciamma prove that there is, in truth, beauty, as in youth and mountain greenery, as in nature's need and human nature's desire. [Blu-ray]

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 13, 2017

Better than a Hollywood adolescent getting-laid comedy, or a socially-conscious message movie, Being 17 is so lively that watching its characters rushing through their encounters produces a rare sense of discovery.

| Mar 3, 2017

The thin line between love and hate dissolves almost entirely in Being 17, a deeply satisfying coming-of-age and coming-out tale set at the picturesque foot of the Pyrenees by director Andr Tchin.

| Dec 22, 2016

If you can buy into the premise, good luck to you. I didn't.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 1, 2016

The screenplay is marred by clumsy foreshadowing and other contrivances, but Tchin and Sciamma have tapped into something genuine: the deep confusion at the dawn of sexuality.

| Dec 1, 2016

There's a screwball complication that draws out the class differences between the boys, but their hate-love bonding comes from beating each other up, a two-boy fight club... The brute mix of emotion and sensation suits the confusion of their age.

| Nov 29, 2016

It's a sheer delight to watch these two boys -- on their way to becoming men -- challenge and provoke each other, before they finally embrace.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 23, 2016

Age in Being 17 comes in awkward bursts, and yet the film moves sublimely. Director Tchin, 73 years old, is wise beyond his years.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 18, 2016