Young Critics Lab

23 décembre 2025

Raw and Ambiguous Sex That Unites

By Siri Vaara

Grapes are usually a symbol of rebirth and abundance. In Slovenian director Urška Djukić’s first feature film, Little Trouble Girls, Lucija (Jara Sofija Ostan) and her choirmate – and possible love interest – Ana Maria (Mina Svajger) are seen eating sour grapes to “repent their sins”. In the final scene, after a turning point that forces Lucija into self-acceptance, we see her indulging in sweet, juicy grapes. With her hair, which we had previously always seen tied back in a tight ponytail, now cascading freely over her shoulders, and with her gaze fixed towards the sky, the word “rebirth” comes to mind. 

In Maspalomas by Basque filmmakers Aitor Arregi Galdos and José Mari Goenaga, the grapes are being eaten in a celebratory manner, in true Spanish tradition, to welcome in the new year of 2020 at the retirement home where our protagonist Vicente (José Ramón Soroiz) is residing.

Winners of awards at the 2025 Les Arcs, the two films seem very different. One is about a teenage girl and her sexual awakening during a choir rehearsal retreat, the other about Vicente, a 76-year-old gay man who has to re-enter the “closet” after moving into a retirement home due to a stroke. And yet both depict a queer experience, albeit from completely different angles and generations. They are also stories of reinvention, creating the idea that we will always evolve and transform, at any age.

Lucija and Vicente share some core similarities, despite being seemingly polar opposites: a teenage girl and a man in his 70s. This sparks a humanistic flame in polarized times like these. Ultimately, they share the same dilemma. They both wear masks and repress their true desires. Vicente catfishes on Grindr and hides his sexuality. Lucija, meanwhile, cannot bring herself to kiss Ana Maria on the lips during a game of truth or dare. Instead, she proceeds to kiss a marble statue of the Virgin Mary, while holding Ana Maria’s gaze. Lucija is drawn to her boldness, self-confidence and ease with her sexuality. She has everything that Lucija lacks. Similarly, Vicente both envies and desires his new found acquaintance and roommate Xanti at the retirement home. He has a traditional, tough-guy masculinity about him: he is strong and charismatic. In Vicentes own words, Xanti embodies all the qualities he aspires to possess. 

In both films, sex – and how it is depicted – plays a significant role. In Maspalomas, the Sex scenes are hands-on. The opening shows an orgy behind the sand dunes on the beach, reminiscent of Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger by the Lake. Following Vicente’s hedonistic lifestyle, the directors take us to nude beaches and queer sex clubs, where there is an endless blur of naked men drinking cocktails, chatting and having sex. The opening sequences caused up to fifteen people to walk out of one of the screenings during the festival. During the Q&A after the screening, Aitor Arregi Galdos responded – I’m paraphrasing – “Is it the film or your point of view that’s the problem?”

Djukić takes a “less is more” approach to erotic depiction. In Little Trouble Girls, everything is suggested and very little is shown. Still, the images are oozing with sexual tension between Lucija and Ana Maria, and between the giggling choir girls hiding in the woods to catch a glimpse of the monastery’s construction workers swimming naked.

Even the scene in which Lucija is touching herself for the first time remains suggestive: the camera focuses closely on her shoulder and neck, her throat bulging as she pants. In a way, the different approaches to sex are traditional in an ironic sense. A grown man’s sexuality is depicted in a raw and uninhibited manner, while the young woman’s eroticism is ambiguous and mysterious.

Despite coming from two very specific and niche viewpoints, the directors of these films manage to illustrate something deeply human: yearning and insecurity. In a time characterized by division, where we constantly pigeonhole each other based on our identities, it feels encouraging to find that the experience of an older man is not so different from that of a teenage girl.