La drôlesse

Eccentric love story about Mado, a lonely 11-year-old country girl, and Francois, a possibly psychotic 20-year-old fellow who kidnaps Mado and hides her in the attic of his parents' farmhouse. As soon as Fran-,cois has the willing Mado in his clutches, however, he abandons all thoughts of lust. Instead, each finds in the other the love and companionship that's been missing from life.
Madeleine Desdevises, a nonprofessional actress who looks like a very young, very innocent Brooke Shields, is charming as Mado, who is actually far more worldly than Francois, a role that is played by Claude Hebert with an intensity that is alternately brooding and comic. Jacques Doillon, the director, also wrote the screenplay, which resembles William Wyler's ''The Collector'' in outline only.
Mr. Doillon is apparently a director of talent, certainly with his actors, and he manages to keep a very short story going easily without resorting to the melodrama that one always anticipates. It's this anticipation that gives the movie an edginess that disguises its sentimental heart.
In one typical scene, Mado asks Francois if he will give her a baby -she's lonely hanging around the attic all day. He is shocked. ''That,'' he says, ''would be immoral.'' Instead, they go shopping, which means that Mado has to slip unseen out of the attic, hide in the cart attached to his motorized bicycle, and then, halfway to town, hide in a cornfield while he goes on alone to shop.
They are an appealing couple, but their story is so particular, so special, that ''La Drolesse'' becomes the kind of film that, though entertaining as one watches it, tends to disappear from memory almost as soon as it's over. - Vincent Canby, nytimes.com