Critic Brian Price called A Real Young Girl a "transgressive look at the sexual awakening of an adolescent girl", an "awkward film" which "represents Breillat at her most Bataillesque, freely mingling abstract images of female genitalia, mud, and rodents into this otherwise realist account of a young girl's" coming of age.
Film critic Brian Price portrayed A Real Young Girl as a bold examination of the adolescent girl's sexual awakening, describing it as an "uncomfortable" film that combines abstract visuals of female anatomy, mud, and rodents with a realistic narrative about a young girl's transition to adulthood.