Directed by Katell Quillévéré. Starring Clara Augarde, Lio, Stefano Cassetti, Michel Galabru Club, IFI, Dublin, 81 min

ANNA IS A blossoming 14-year-old suffering through an awkward summer in Brittany. Unwanted change is in the air: mum and dad are splitting up over religious differences; morbidly obese granddad is dying in the back room; trusty best friend has departed for the season. Anna finds some solace in her new puppy fat breasts and topless confirmation age romps with a local choirboy.

Beautifully directed, gorgeously shot and generic enough to have the viewer on the lookout for a Microsoft First Feature on the credits, Love Like Poisonhas little to offer that arthouse patrons haven't seen a dozen times or more.

Overstretched at a stingy 81 minutes, this coming-of-age fable pivots around pretty pastoral tableaux and little else. Take out the lovely lingering shots of the titian-haired adolescent (played by impressive newcomer Clara Augarde) framed by sunlight and glades and we're left with a familiar bare-bones Bildungsroman.

All attempts to extend Anna’s first teen fumbles into a feature-length picture seem to falter. A subplot pitching religious fervour against profane sensuality is clumsily shoehorned in, comings and goings are mostly inconsequential and pillow shots ahoy.

Indeed, the film’s sole embellishment on its well-worn theme is one fantastically inappropriate interaction between the heroine and her grandfather. The creepy incestuous shock value of the scene can’t quite dispel the notion that we’ve been here and already bought the T-shirt.

Look closely and every detail reflects back another film. The denouement is lifted from Little Miss Sunshine; the Scala Kolacny Brothers' choral arrangement of Radiohead's Creepover the end credits also played across the trailer for The Social Network.

The glossy bucolic and subdued, slight framework have travelled well around festivals and award panels. Director Katell Quillévéré took home this year’s Jean Vigo Prize for first feature and won many middlebrow notices.

To be fair, Love Like Poisonsuggests that the debuting director and the talented Ms Augarde are names to watch. They just need better material next time around.