Arguably the best thing about the botched British flagwaver, A ROYAL NIGHT OUT, (which richly deserved its right royal rogering from critics and audiences) was the performance of Bel Powley as the teenage Princess Margaret.
In DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL, Powley’s performance of a precocious teenager, Minnie, living in 1976 San Francisco, again steals the show in a more pivotal role.
DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL begins with Minnie in a state of marvellous rapture. She has lost her virginity and is ecstatic. Problem is, she has lost it to, or rather, given it freely to her mother’s boyfriend, Monroe!
This may sound like Lolita territory, but there is no sign of the malevolent manipulation in Minnie as was evident in Nabakov’s nymph.
Minnie’s mum, Charlotte, tells her to “dress cuter,” and “show it off while you got it.” She’s taught, “You need men to admire you to have self-worth.” So Minnie has to figure it out on her own which is why it takes a while, and she stumbles, and she has to go through so many heartbreaking things…
THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL is based on Phoebe Gloeckner’s novel of the same name, and Writer/Director Marielle Heller unlocks this diary with a richly comedic, robust, fresh and honestly non judgemental way In her feature film directorial debut.
Heller brings Gloeckner’s book to life with fearless performances, spearheaded by Powley, but auxiliary powered by exhilarating turns by Alexander Skarsgard as Monroe and Kristen Wiig as Charlotte, as well as inventive graphic novel-like animation sequences, courtesy of Sara Gunnarsdottir, an Icelandic animator who illustrates the kind of crude, hand drawn, really tactile paper feel of Minnie’s sketches and doodles.
DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL is a fine film about empowerment, a teen movie of substance, style, humour, honesty and heart. Minnie is not the typical sarcastic teenager type who tend to permeate the predictable pubescent picture shows we are usually presented with, in all their puerile shallowosity. Pure curiosity propels Minnie’s precocity, total earnestness, raw, and unfiltered…
This is some diary and very frank.
