Urška Djukić’s story sees a Catholic school’s all-girls choir travelling to a convent in the countryside, its landscapes vast and open. Djukić’s eye, however, is not. Following her characters with skin-tight proximity, Little Trouble Girls often interrogates the idea of the body. In one moment, the protagonist, Lucia, stares at a topless construction worker, the image of his bicep echoing Claire Denis’ Beau Travail. When her eye is drawn to the bellybutton of her friend, editors Gregor Božić and Lukas Miheljak cut to a flower being fertilised by a bee. Considering the film’s focus on Lucia’s sexual awakening, such a fixation is conducive to seeing the world through her point of view.
Nevertheless, Little Trouble Girls is not solely physical. The English title comes from the Sonic Youth song that ends the film, but it may give a wrong impression. The original Slovenian title, Kaj ti je deklica, translates to “what’s wrong, girl”— a more precise title that emphasises adolescent anxiety rather than teenage rebelliousness as the film’s centre. And while voyeurism plays a part in Lucia’s story, it’s not limited to a sexually curious kind. Whenever Lucia is observing someone, someone else is observing her. Her mother scrutinises her for wearing lipstick, her friend undermines her for not yet having her first period, her choir teacher questions her singing ability, all the while Lucia feels herself under the eye of God. This triangulation of gazes is part of the ambitious balancing-act that Djukić attempts in telling the story of someone’s struggle to assert herself as a person. With this in mind, Lev Predan Kowarski’s close-ups carry both the intimacy and claustrophobia of a character stuck between absolute categories, whether that be girlhood and womanhood, heterosexuality and homosexuality, or personal desires with social expectations.
As such, Little Trouble Girls is a delight in how mature it is for a debut feature. Although Djukić occasionally slips into overt visual metaphor (like the aforementioned flower/bee image), the film remains at its best when its storytelling sticks to tense scenes with multi-layered conflicts and outstanding performances. Saša Tabaković’s role as the music teacher may draw comparisons to J.K Simmons’ Terrence Fletcher (Whiplash), but he slithers rather than bursts into tyranny. As Ana-Marija, Mina Švajger creates an allure that entrances Lucia, and a boldness that challenges her. Still, Jara Sofija Ostan stands tall, slowly building up Lucia’s curiosity for new experiences and tolerance for discomfort until she breaks out of her cocoon.
For this reason, the Little Trouble Girls’ finale was a source of confusion. Djukić culminates the film’s symbolic moments in a beautiful dream sequence that stages Lucia’s sexual journey side by side with her religious self-surveillance. It’s both a visually and sonically stunning sequence that integrates the different breadcrumb paths that Djukić laid out earlier in the film. That being said, while the film may be inviting the audience to take the leap with Lucia, the epiphany felt shown instead of earned, and more importantly, it felt premature. Little Trouble Girls is driven forward by actors given the space to go toe to toe in confrontational set pieces. Whether or not the hastily wrapped up ending fizzles out rather than resolves the tension is not something that can be conclusively said. Some audiences will certainly find the ending to be as transformational as the film sees it to be. What can be conclusively said is that Djukić decides to present that transformation in a way that does not rely on a more traditionally climactic final act, and considering the impressive tight-rope of character dynamics that the film walks, such a move left the impression that there was more left in the tank.
In spite of its short-comings, Little Trouble Girls was an arresting experience, and the prospect of having to rate it is an unfair challenge considering an impressive film that stumbles is still in part an impressive film. Djukić’s second work will no doubt be one to look forward to.
The 78th Edinburgh International Film Festival ran from the 14th to the 20th August 2025. Little Trouble Girls screened Out of Competition.
Press image provided by EIFF 2025 for press use.