In its calm, unforced way, The Girls tells an absorbing story that challenges the glib certainties of Hollywood’s coming-of-age fantasies.

Peries, telling the tale in flashback, maintains an air of restrained realism in revealing both Kusum's fate and the difficulty facing those seeking to challenge entrenched tradition.

The Girls bursts with life, and still, even almost 50 years later, stands up as a gentle but fierce film.

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