The Diary of a Teenage Girl could easily be one of these kookie offbeat coming of age films. Instead It decides to be more daring and frank instead.
Minnie Goetze (Bel Powley) is a 15 year old teenager who has sex with her bohemian mother's Charlotte (Kristen Wiig) boyfriend Monroe (Alexander Skarsgard) and enjoys the experience. In fact she likes sex, wants more of it and experiments with her friend Kimmie as they both deals with their raging hormones.
Minnie keep a diary on tape of her sexual exploits which is probably not wise when her mother becomes suspicious. The film uses cartoons to display some of Minnie's frank thoughts.
Director Marielle Heller sets the film in San Francisco of 1976. The period is very evocative and is set during the trial of Patty Hearst which the characters comment on. It allows the film to get away from the fact that Monroe is breaking the law by sleeping with an undersage girl by protraying it as a different era back then.
The film makes no moral judgment about an older guy having sex with a minor, although Monroe's relationship is in a non predatory way. It is probably more refreshing that a film about a teenage girl having sex avoids many of the usual tropes.
It is a bravura performance by British actress Bel Powey but she is too old to play a 15 year old and looks it. I did find the film hollow somewhat but maybe this was something Minnie eventually released. Sex was fun but eventually it meant nothing.
Minnie Goetze (Bel Powley) is a 15 year old teenager who has sex with her bohemian mother's Charlotte (Kristen Wiig) boyfriend Monroe (Alexander Skarsgard) and enjoys the experience. In fact she likes sex, wants more of it and experiments with her friend Kimmie as they both deals with their raging hormones.
Minnie keep a diary on tape of her sexual exploits which is probably not wise when her mother becomes suspicious. The film uses cartoons to display some of Minnie's frank thoughts.
Director Marielle Heller sets the film in San Francisco of 1976. The period is very evocative and is set during the trial of Patty Hearst which the characters comment on. It allows the film to get away from the fact that Monroe is breaking the law by sleeping with an undersage girl by protraying it as a different era back then.
The film makes no moral judgment about an older guy having sex with a minor, although Monroe's relationship is in a non predatory way. It is probably more refreshing that a film about a teenage girl having sex avoids many of the usual tropes.
It is a bravura performance by British actress Bel Powey but she is too old to play a 15 year old and looks it. I did find the film hollow somewhat but maybe this was something Minnie eventually released. Sex was fun but eventually it meant nothing.