The cinema comedy "Girls, Girls" and the first orgasm

Dennis Gansel's film debut, "Mädchen, Mädchen," became a surprise hit nearly a quarter of a century ago, attracting 1.8 million viewers. His film borrowed from the format of US high school comedies, which were popular at the time and mostly explored the adolescent state of emergency in the schoolyard with a low level of humor. Gansel, who later explored the school cosmos in a much more serious way with "Die Welle" (2008), beamed the genre into a provincial German setting and focused on female desire.

Karoline Herfurth, Felicitas Woll, and Diana Amft were just beginning their acting careers at the time. They played three friends searching for their first orgasm. The scene in which a racing bike saddle set too high led to the first sexual climax earned the film pop culture cult status.

Now, director Martina Plura ("Achtsam Morden") has taken on a remake, translating the material into the adolescent present of Generation Z. For Inken (Kya-Celina Barucki), one thing is clear: she finally needs her first orgasm, which will give her the superpowers she needs in her daily battle for self-esteem. She can't count on her lover Tim (Jason Klare). He thinks he's great, always gets off quickly, and tries to convince Inken that her slight moans were already her sexual climax. "That's all I can do," says Tim.

Vicky (Julia Novohradsky) may have numerous one-time lovers thanks to Tinder, but when she explains to her astonished friends that an orgasm feels like the fading pain of a stubbed toe, it becomes clear: she hasn't had one either. Lena (Nhung Hong) writes highly erotic prose in a blog under the pseudonym "Cherry Lips," but she's never had sex.

The path to the first orgasm for the three friends is also laid out humorously and full of twists in this remake, with Plura and her screenwriter Katharina Kiesl thankfully deleting some superfluous plot loops from the original.

The production is convincing for the fresh energy with which it drives the story forward and captures the current atmosphere of the gender battle in the schoolyard. The film makes no secret of the sexism that male classmates rain down on the young women, from verbal attacks to dick pics.

But it also shows the strength with which the girls defend themselves against this hostility. The director has rid the source material of pure silly jokes. Her film takes a humorous approach to the odyssey to orgasm, always on par with the girls' experiences. The direct, clear language is free of embarrassing pandering to youth culture.

“Girls, Girls,” directed by Martina Plura, with Kya-Celina Barucki, Julia Novohradsky, Nhung Hong, 90 minutes, FSK 12