MOST of us will have no difficulties at all in identifying with this portrait of twelve-year-old Nora (Tove Edfeldt) who is on the verge of puberty. We've all been through this rather disturbing phase where, 'everything is usual but nothing's like before'. It's the time when you feel alienated from your body, when popularity is defined through what you wear, to which parties you get invited, if you can smoke without coughing your lungs out, and most important of all, who you talk with at break time.

Nora actually has it all going for her: Jonas, the boy with a stammer, offers her a slow dance at the school party, her liberal mother allows her to go out until eleven and she even scores two goals in a football game. But, she is also sympathetic towards Karin (Anna Gabrielsson), the plumpish outcast who nobody fancies and who is not good at football but very good at academics. Can one feel sorry for sombody and dislike them at the same time? Obviously yes. Unfortunately, this does not go unnoticed by Fanny and Sabina, the two hugely popular girls in the class. And to fall out with them means that you are categorized as an outcast yourself. In desperately trying to regain their friendship Nora is forced to turn against Karin, to degrade her in the most horrific way in the game of truth or dare...

The plot is very straightforward but does not seem contrived in the least and it is this feature which gives the film the necessary documentary touch. Moreover, the acting of the young school girls is outstanding and very entertaining. Without moralising, the film touches on the various problems a girl at that age has to cope with in order to overcome insecurities and to survive in an environment dominated by peer-pressure. Christina Olofson manages to make Nora's story both personal and accessible. No doubt, the viewer will find herself grinning inwardly at the petty problems which seemed so overwhelming at that time in life. What a great sensation to feel that one has moved on!