Diary of a Teenage Girl

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Marielle Heller/Starring: Bel Powley, Kristen Wiig, Alexander Skarsgard, Christopher Meloni and Madeleine Waters

What may be the last teen film of the summer: Diary of a Teenage Girl opened this week at local theaters and I couldn't help but compare it to other films in the genre that have played on screens the last few months. First-time director Marielle Heller's film comes on the heels of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Paper Towns, which proves there can never be a glut of coming-of-age films. Of the three summer offerings, I must say Heller's is the superior.
Based on the novel by Phoebe Gloeckner, Diary of a Teenage Girl takes place in early 1970s' San Francisco. 15-year-old Minnie (fearlessly played by British actress Bel Powley) is a budding underground cartoonist in the vein of Aline Kaminsky (legendary comic artist Robert Crumb's significant other). Minnie's home-life is anything but typical. Its freewheeling, free-love atmosphere, is fostered by her mother Charlotte (well-played by Kristen Wiig), a divorcee who enjoys parties, getting high and hanging out with like-minded people.

Aside from her accomplished drawings, Bel's other concern is her eagerness to have sex. She is acutely aware of the boys in class but also her mother's boyfriend Monroe (wonderfully played by Alexander Skarsgard), who she first develops a crush on then fantasizes about. Her daydreams and thoughts are often accompanied by animation (why are there so many indie teen films with animation?) and an animated Aline Kaminsky, who often serves as her counsel and adviser.

What begins as seemingly harmless companionship becomes serious when Minnie is forthright about what she wants to do with Monroe. He scoffs at first then submits to her overture.

The carnal relationship that follows serves as Minnie's sexual awakening as both she and Monroe's clandestine trysts become frequent. Minnie naturally shares her secret with no one save for her best friend Kimmie (Madeleine Waters) who finds the idea mildly repugnant. Before long, Kimmie is joining Minnie in her daring, sexual forays. Pursuing their sexual adventures to an extreme, Minnie propositions two men in a bar one night, which results in an experience both she and Kimmie regret.

While Minnie begins to see her meetings with Monroe as the foundation for a relationship, he regards their sexual encounters as enjoyable larks without emotional entanglements. Minnie is stung by Monroe's casual, non-committal attitude, but their assignations continue, in spite of their conflicting perspectives on their relationship.

But Minnie's carnal curiosity isn't fixed solely on men. Minnie and a young lesbian she meets at a party share a dalliance and a mutual fascination but the relationship leads nowhere and soon becomes a boundary in her sexual frontier.

Though Monroe is able to curb Charlotte's suspicions about his indiscretion, she discovers them anyway. Given Charlotte's own liberation and her progressive attitudes about sex, we see the limits of her tolerance when she visits her rage on Monroe. She even demands Monroe marry her daughter; a command that is more a threat than a directive.

As the relationship begins to cool, Minnie resumes her drawing and sees the relationship with an enlightened dispassion. The scene where the two meet by chance on a sidewalk; she selling her drawings and he out for a jog, has a finality that gives us some sense of Minnie's passage from innocence to experience.

Though the story in Heller's film seems so familiar, it feels as if its never been told before. It's difficult to make any story on this subject seem new and unfamiliar but Heller accomplishes this with little trouble. It is exhilarating to see a female protagonist in this genre; as so many of these films are told from a male perspective.

It is refreshing to see a more self-determined teen female; one who actively seeks sexual a experience without being punished for doing so by priggish moral imperatives. Of course this story only makes sense set in the sexually-adventurous 70s'.

Bel Powley, whose work has mainly been in television, branches out into cinematic territory with her nuanced performance. A whiff of whimsy works its way into her role; giving her teenage plight some humorous touches. No less affecting are Alexander Skarsgard and Kristen Wiig, who are kind of antagonists in Minnie's maturation process.

I found Diary of a Teenage Girl to not only be a credible contribution to the genre but a vividly rendered drama that is impressive in its candor and willingness to not only examine a teen girl's inner life but her fantasy life as well. It is a film that refuses to make concessions to Hollywood teen drama cliches, which these days seem to involve cancer victims or futuristic dystopias. It's nice to know the age-old anxieties about sex and the emotional demands of adulthood are still the subject of some teen dramas. Thank goodness for Heller's film, which allows us to see a real teen with real-world problems before the deluge of the fall franchises The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner distract us with their over-the-top, cartoonish, melodrama.