“Girlhood” (“”), 2014, directed by Céline Sciamma

In political discourse and popular culture, the French banlieue, like the American urban ghetto, is imagined as a predominantly male space, a place where disaffected young men work out their alienation and struggle with the temptations of violence, crime and extremism. “Girlhood” tilts against this bias, delving into the life of Marieme, a teenager of African descent navigating the transition to adulthood in very tough circumstances. Hemmed in on one side by the indifference of the state (embodied, as is customary in French cinema, by school and the police), and on the other by traditional male authority (embodied by her older brother), Marieme finds a measure of freedom in the company of her friends and a release in popular music. Céline Sciamma’s film is vibrant and exuberant — there’s more than a little “Mean Streets” in this high-rise neighborhood — but it also confronts viewers with the bleak realities and circumscribed destinies faced by too many of France’s nonwhite young people. Available onAmazon Video, Vudu, YouTube. SCOTT