Review of The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015) by Alandaviddoane — 17 Sep 2015

The Diary of a Teenage Girl is in my top-five all time great graphic novels, and I have felt that way for over a decade now. So I had pretty high hopes that Marielle Heller’s film adaptation would do justice to Phoebe Gloeckner’s story, a glorious, frank coming-of-age that challenges just about every preconceived notion almost any reader could bring to it. Because the story of Minnie Goetze is so very specific in its time, in its setting and in the particulars of how she enters the world of adult sexuality, and because Heller has been so meticulous in bringing it to the screen, the movie, like the book, is absolutely mesmerizing.

To be sure, the confident and determined direction by Heller plays a large role in how riveting the film is from beginning to end, and the cinematography, music and acting performances are all magnificent as well. But ultimately the adaptation would succeed or fail on the key bit of casting, Bel Powley as Minnie. From first moment to last, we experience her world through her eyes – no, through her soul. From her initial announcement that “Holy **** I had sex today!” to a series of new experiences, some soaring, some confusing, some absolutely heartbreaking, Powley completely and utterly inhabits Minnie Goetze in a way that is astounding for anyone who has read the book, and is undoubtedly no less a delight for those coming to this story for the first time in its filmed form.

When she is drunk on her own newfound sexual agency, we feel that. When she is daydreaming about her mother’s boyfriend in all his perceived dreaminess, we feel that, despite seeing him perhaps more clearly than she does. When she lusts, we lust. When she is wounded to the core by her lover’s denial of their relationship, we feel that pain. Powley’s face, her eyes, and her body language all communicate with us so powerfully and urgently that this seems like a new kind of film performance, a more direct connection between actor and audience than is usual. Maybe it’s the material, maybe it’s the direction, maybe it’s Powley’s fearless and bold screen presence, but whatever it is, this is not a movie that you will find yourself bored by. Time suspends and we are there in Minnie’s world, in her bedroom, or devastated at the bottom of a phone booth; no matter what happens, there are no barriers. There is only what happens, and how it feels.

All this is of a piece with Gloeckner’s graphic novel. The Diary of a Teenage Girl held nothing back and demanded to be experienced without pity. It presents Minnie’s sexual life as if she has the right to make her own decisions, because of course she does, and if the people in her life take advantage of that or exercise poor judgment, and they do, then that’s what happens. As with the book, I felt deeply for Minnie and wanted someone to stand up and be a champion for her, but ultimately she learns how to do that for herself, and the lesson of this movie, I think, is that every girl deserves that chance. If The Diary of a Teenage Girl teaches them to demand that power, so much the better.

I loved the book this movie grew out of, and now I love the movie. I have enormous respect and admiration for what Phoebe Gloeckner has done with her artistic talent, and for how Marielle Heller has brought that to the screen with urgency, wit, intelligence and forthrightness. If the movie is not a literal adaptation of every moment of Minnie’s story as seen in the book, it still delivers the most important elements with few evident compromises. It’s a story everyone should experience, and while not everyone will come out of it thinking and feeling the same things, it’s impossible not to feel something after seeing Minnie’s story.

Me, I felt exhilarated. And very, very pleased for one of the most talented people in comics, that her work has been so faithfully translated to a new medium. I hope it brings moviegoers to the original source material, because there is a lot more to the story than what we see in the movie, as breathtaking as it is.