The Diary of a Teenage Girl

[kevinknapman]

I took advantage of the fact I can currently use my Cineworld Unlimited card at the Picturehouse Central and went to see the Little White Lies preview of The Diary of a Teenage Girl this afternoon. Showing to tie in with their current issue on female film directors, it is first time filmmaker Marielle Heller's disarmingly frank and honest look at a 17 year-old's sexual awakening in 70s era San Francisco as she enters into a relationship with her mother's boyfriend.

Dominating the entire film is an extraordinarily mature and captivating performance from wide-eyed Brit actress Bel Powley (a world away from her turn as Princess Margaret in A Royal Night Out) who really impresses and will no doubt have a fine career ahead of her. She is well supported by Alexander Skarsgård as the boyfriend and Kristen Wiig as her mother giving real depth to characters that could so easily have slipped into one-dimensional caricatures.

Beautifully directed with the freelove era evocatively recreated and with a wonderful soundtrack including Iggy Pop, Nico and Television, it also has some lovely animated sequences of Minnie's Aline Kominsky/Robert Crumb inspired comic book art.

This is an impressive coming of age drama exploring a subject cinema rarely touches in a refreshing and non-judgmental fashion. And one that seemingly still scares some people as it's already been slapped with an 18 certificate in this country. Films with ratings as low as 12 can happily depict all manner of violence and death, but even dare to suggest or show that young women might actively want, have and enjoy sex and the audience that may well appreciate and benefit from seeing this most (girls the same age as central character Minnie) have to be protected and denied from seeing it. A cinematic double standard that still baffles in this supposedly enlightened age.
Hopefully the film will still reach an appreciative audience somehow as it fully deserves it, though I expect it's depiction of teenage female sexuality may still prove to be a bit too much for some (fair warning for anyone planning to go to one of the free previews tomorrow).

[Beate]

Thanks for the warning Kevin! It was indeed full of sex, nudity, drinking, drug taking and bad language but it seemed such an honest portrayal of a teenager in the 70s that I didn't mind it at all.
Surrey Quays wasn't overly full and I only saw three FMUKers, but thankfully we also didn't have any giggly teenagers in the audience - the 18 certificate probably put pa*d to that.
I thought all the performances, particularly by Princess Margaret (what a different role!) were very good, and the cartoon drawings fit in very well.
Teenagers really do have a different moral code - they think because they are doing something it must be right. It's just how their logic works - they know everything and what they feel is right. Trust me, I was one once, albeit not in the 70s!

7.5/10

[jojojoanne]

I was uncomfortable with the older guy and the teenage girl as she seemed younger than she was. But it was a good film and portrayed the teenage emotions well. Toward the end of the film, a mouse run out from under the back row!! I told the staff but they didn't seem to be that bothered!!

[Beate]

Eek! Glad I didn't see the mouse!

[jojojoanne]

I checked my bag when i got outside, just in case he'd snuck in!!

[ladams888]

Saw this yesterday in a less than half full Wimbledon. I hadn’t read up on the film at all – all I had seen was a poster and from that assumed it was a light comedy/chick flick type of film. When I saw that it was an “18” I knew my assumptions were wildly wrong! I was actually quite disturbed by the film – which portrayed how a plain but precocious teenager had a very sexual fling with her mother’s boyfriend and how, from that point, her life completely spiralled out of control. Set in the hedonistic 70s in San Francisco, she was betrayed by the various adults in her life – mother, father, mother’s boyfriend – who only seemed interested in pursuing their own aims. It was a bit like a cross between Adrian Mole’s diary and Oz magazine (for those who remember it!). I quite liked the way that live action was interspersed with cartoon, but it still made for unsettling watching. 4/10

[raj101]

this was ok but I think trying too hard to be cool.

Weird that the girl taking tickets at the odeon looked like the chick in the film.

[sandypiper]

Well 3 walked out of the screening. My sister and I stayed to the bitter end.

It was an interesting take on the 70s, not too sure what was depicted actually did happen. I can't remember it being all Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. I remember wearing loads of purple and red, and b*ying clothes from Biba.

The Hippy meal reminded me of a restaurant off Westbourne Grove in London which served microbiotic meals, which tasted foul.

I will give this film 4 out of 10