Friday, December 20, 2019

Delayed Reaction: The Diary of a Teenage Girl


The Pitch: So, it's a high school coming of age story, but - get this - with a girl.

A teenage girl has a sexual awakening, but not exactly under the best of circumstances.

This movie is a little tricky to talk about. There are plenty of movies about teenage boys discovering sex. There aren't as many about young women, and most of those are very male gaze-y. The Diary of a Teenage Girl is a decidedly female story and has a decidedly female perspective. So, that's cool. I'm in favor of different perspectives on story-types I already love. The problem is that this movie is about a 15-year-old girl who carries on an affair with her mother's much older boyfriend. And, it even ends without real comeuppance for the grown man. That's an...interesting choice. It works within the context of the movie, but it sure is hard to talk about it without it sounding like some implicit approval of it.
Bel Powley is really good though. Alexander Skarsgard plays the sleazebag role that his family is known for* very well. While I miss the Kristen Wiig of SNL and Bridesmaids, I still like Sundance Wiig a decent amount too.

*Seriously, I hope the Skarsgards are lovely people. They play such awful people so often. I at least hope that when the director says "cut" they aren't awful to deal with then as well.
I guess I'm a fan of Marielle Heller, because I have seen everything she's directed (movies or TV shows).

Verdict: Weakly Recommend

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