Stomping into her bathroom wearingoveralls and rubber boots, long hair flying, a young French-Moroccan womanfumes with anger. The woman, Sofia, glares into the mirror as she grasps thehandle of an old-fashioned razor, contemplating its blade.

At this point in the movie, the tension is felt throughout the high school audience as students wonder what the heroine will do next. The scene changes and the audience members see Sofia again — with a short-cropped haircut, no less — and relax, even getting a laugh out of her show of crew-cut rebellion.

What may not have been apparent in that moment, however, is the whole experience of watching the independent French film, which two French language teachers brought their students to see a film festival screening of on the morning of May 5 at a local theater.

French language teachers Annie Puretzand John Raya brought their students to Sundance Kabuki Cinema in Japantown to view a screening ofFrench Girl

After French Consulate’s Cultural Attaché Christophe Musitelli provided a brief introduction to the film in which he spoke mostly in French to the student audience, all sat back to enjoy the film by director Souad El Bouhati.

Very quickly, the teens became acquainted with the rebellious Sofia whose parents, at the film’s start, relocate her whole family of five from suburban France to their native Morocco. Despite having immigrated at a young age, the 18-year-old Sophia is relentless in her decision to move back to France — where she spent most of her happy childhood and where she feels is her true home —once she passes her exams.

Though the ending left the audience slightly puzzled in its ambiguity, Puretz praised the movie, touting the unconventional plotline that attracted both herself and Raya to the 84-minute film. “We both read the synopsis and we thought it was an interesting (story) of an immigrant going back to her home country,” she said.

Puretz pointed out that “normally we see films where people assimilate to French culture,” whereas French Girl

Perhaps what was most surprising to the students was Sofia’s explosive response to her parents’ wishes for her to follow the Moroccan tradition of girls marrying soon after completing their studies. “I got really scared when I saw the razor, but cutting her hair was a big sign of independence,” Puretz said.

“Her desire to go back to France was so strong,” sophomore French language student Annie Ho said. “She got what she wanted.”

Throughout all of Sofia’s displays of frustration, Puretz hoped for her students, especially those who were first or second-generation Americans, to connect with Sofia’s story and identify with her experience as a foreigner in Morocco. Several students did relate, including Ho whose parents are immigrants. “For immigrants, people look down on them and they have to work harder than other people,” she said. “I understand the way she feels.”

Raya agreed that the film’s recognition of Moroccan immigrants presented a seldom-recognized side of French culture. “It shows how France is changing too,” he said. “France is actually about 30 percent non-French now.”

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