The story of one young teen’s sexual awakening and relationship with her mother’s boyfriend, The Diary Of A Teenage Girl expresses the thoughts of a young woman in a way that most movies don’t.
If someone were to ask you to name a few movies about teenagers, the first ones that might come to mind are films like Mean Girls, The Breakfast Club, and Heathers. I would be thinking of stories about gossip and dating, fights with other teens, and who made the cheerleading squad. There aren’t a lot of movies that focus on the transition into sexual awareness, so this one is fairly unique.
The Diary Of A Teenage Girl is about Minnie, a 15 year old teen who lives with her mother and younger sister. Mom is not a good role model – drinking too much, doing drugs – and her boyfriend, Monroe, spends a lot of time at the house. When Minnie notices that Monroe seems to find her attractive, the two begin an affair that is the beginning of Minnie’s sexual experiences.
This drama is fascinating and different, as everything is from Minnie’s point of view. She is a young woman who wants to be noticed, wants sexual attention, and enjoys the experiences, but she is also very very young, and is unaware that she speaks her naivete often.
The scenes with Monroe and Minnie are challenging to watch. He is a 35 year old man who is clearly grooming a child that he knows is infatuated with him, but he is also just as immature, with his big dreams and no forward progress. Not to mention that he is having sex with a kid as well as, later, her mother. It’s disturbing.
While there is a lot of sex in the film as well as a heavy focus on the natural feelings a young teen girl has about the power in her newly developed body, there are also deeper themes at play here. Rebellion, self-discovery, and those moments when you begin to see a parent as a human in addition to an authority figure. These are all things most teens experience in some fashion and they are well-displayed here.
Minnie’s mother sees her own value as very much related to the attention she receives from men – and she encourages Minnie to do the same, suggesting she wear tighter clothes or show some skin. Minnie isn’t sure of her value, but she dreams like a child, enjoys doing art (that shows up in drawn stars, wings, and other cartoonish imagery throughout), and wants to follow her inner voice (a confused mix of different desires).
The Diary Of A Teenage Girl also takes place in the mid-70s, when Patty Hearst was arrested. The clothing and sets in the film are fantastically period, and the mentions of Hearst very much play into the conversations around grooming. You see it, but they don’t.
There aren’t many movies that center around a young woman’s sexual awakening and exploration, and this one portrays the feelings and what might happen incredibly realistically. Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgård, and Kristen Wiig do each of their characters justice (as Minnie, Monroe, and Minnie’s mom, respectively), and it’s a story that deserves to be told even if you do get the ick from the heavily inappropriate adult/teen relationship.
Runtime: 102 minutes
Motion Picture Rating: R
Languages Spoken In The Film: English
Should You Watch It? Yes
Did I Cry? Nope
My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Available: Free on Hulu, to rent on Prime Video, or may be available for free on other streaming platforms
If someone were to ask you to name a few movies about teenagers, the first ones that might come to mind are films like Mean Girls, The Breakfast Club, and Heathers. I would be thinking of stories about gossip and dating, fights with other teens, and who made the cheerleading squad. There aren’t a lot of movies that focus on the transition into sexual awareness, so this one is fairly unique.
