Yes, this is a real film, and actually a very enjoyable one. I thought it was French, but it's actually French Canadian - I don't know if that makes a difference. Think of it somewhere between What We Do In The Shadows and Let The Right One In, although considerably closer to the former, albeit surprisingly sincere in places. The title says it all, really. We first meet Sasha at a childhood birthday party,
getting an electronic keyboard (so this must be at least the 80s?) that she surprises her relatives (parents, aunt, slightly older-and-wiser cousin Denise) by being able to play. Then there's a knock on the door and the aunt reveals that she's ordered an extra present, which turns out to be a clown, whom Sasha is ecstatic to see, rushing out and hugging him. However, his act fails to amuse the rest of the family, and he slowly becomes more nervous, but then promises them a magic trick if he can first climb inside his trunk... And at this point the family reveals that they plan to (as they put it) eat him, and we see an appalled Sasha's little face as the clown's pitiful screams are heard... The family is worried at her soft-heartedness and takes her to a neurologist (apparently there's a secret parallel vampire world, with vampire neurologists - none of this is explained, which is fine) who reports that instead of human suffering making her excited, it triggers pity. Flash forward to now, and the about-18-looking Sasha is seen playing her keyboard for money outside of a convenience store. (We will later find out that it is 40 years later and she is actually in her sixties, as vampires "age very slowly" (they don't freeze, as in Let The Right One In). Nonetheless, she certainly acts like a teen, still lives with her parents, who are getting heartily fed up with her refusing to hunt or fend for herself (well, her mother is - her father is almost as soft-hearted and wants to protect her). As her set finishes and people drift off, she spots somebody (a boy her (apparent) age) standing on a roof opposite, looking down. As she watches, another youth comes up and sighs and tells him to come down because the brats are overrunning the place, and he meekly complies. He is Paul, a depressed high-schooler, bullied by classmates like Henry, his co-worker at the local bowling alley. And you can see where this is headed. I won't give too much away, because it's a slight film but very enjoyable. Besides the two I've mentioned, it also reminds one a bit of Harold and Maude (and not just because Paul is suicidal) and A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (there's even a scene where the two of them slowly groove to a record in Sasha's room).
Some important scenes: Sasha gets her fangs
but still refuses to hunt, so the family has an intervention
and she's sent to live with Denise to teach her to hunt. Denise's pad looks like a sex dungeon, with chains and hooks, and indeed, that's what the hitchhikers she brings home are supposed to think, but we know better. Denise also accidentally "turns" a loser who won't shut up about his hot tub (and who still lives with his father), who is definitely the most WWDitS-type character. Trigger warning: a bat dies in this film (not really - it's clearly fake) and is later hurled at a teacher. Apparently in this universe lights flicker when a vampire is aroused by bloodlust.
Everybody in the film is good, but the definite standout is Sara Montpetit as Sasha. Pale, dark-haired and dark-eyed, she looks like a vampire, and has huge sad eyes and pale hands that are always wandering, slightly beyond her control. She's also a great physical comedian, which sort of goes with her Buster Keaton-esque mien. Denise (Noémie O'Farrell) is also great fun, proving that redheads can also be vampires. And the solution Sasha and Paul come up with for their dilemma is surprisingly, well, humane. Check it out - I watched it for free on Kanopy.
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