• About
  • Masthead
    • Editorial Board
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News
    • Residential halls experience maintenance issues
      Residential halls experience maintenance issues
    • Wellesley community grapples with ChatGPT’s implications
      Wellesley community grapples with ChatGPT’s implications
    • Students protest for trans and nonbinary rights
      Students protest for trans and nonbinary rights
    • News in Brief
    • Senate Report
  • Features
    • ES 300 Conducts Waste Audit
      ES 300 Conducts Waste Audit
    • Scholar-advocate visits Wellesley to discuss women and incarceration
      Scholar-advocate visits Wellesley to discuss women and incarceration
    • Diana Khoi Nguyen leads workshop and poetry reading
      Diana Khoi Nguyen leads workshop and poetry reading
    • Alumnae Spotlight
    • Faculty Focus
  • Opinions
    • Navigating Anonymity-Seeking Apps at Wellesley
      Navigating Anonymity-Seeking Apps at Wellesley
    • Trans people are not your culture war
      Trans people are not your culture war
    • The Silicon Valley Bank collapse has exposed how the government chooses to spend its money
      The Silicon Valley Bank collapse has exposed how the government chooses to spend its money
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Arts
    • Hozier stuns with “Eat Your Young” EP
      Hozier stuns with “Eat Your Young” EP
    • Diana Khoi Nguyen leads workshop and poetry reading
      Diana Khoi Nguyen leads workshop and poetry reading
    • “Cocaine Bear” indicates the return of camp movies
      “Cocaine Bear” indicates the return of camp movies
    • Books Before Boys
  • Sports and Wellness
    • No image
      What even is a BORG and why does it matter?
    • What even are BORGs and why do they matter?
      What even are BORGs and why do they matter?
    • What video games can teach us about self-care
      What video games can teach us about self-care
    • Athlete of the Month
  • The Wellesley Snooze
    • Miss Me With That Gay Shit
      Miss Me With That Gay Shit
    • Tower House Prez Emails
      Tower House Prez Emails
    • Worst Human Being You’ve Ever Met Validated by Stone Center Therapist
      Worst Human Being You’ve Ever Met Validated by Stone Center Therapist
By Julia Koziatek ArtsFebruary 22, 2023

“The Starling Girl” Brings Agency to the Forefront

“The Starling Girl,” directed by Laurel Parmet, achieves excellence in its ambiguity. Parmet’s feature directorial debut follows 17- year-old Jem Starling (Eliza Scanlen) as she begins to question what life could hold for her beyond the fundamentalist Christian community in which she was raised. The return of her married youth pastor, Owen (Lewis Pullman), serves as a catalyst for her burgeoning sexuality and desire for independence. Parmet’s feature premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. Earlier this month, it sold to Bleecker Street for distribution. 

Narratives centered around teenage girls entering into precarious relationships with older men are deeply familiar to audiences, most recently taken to psychedelic heights in Ethel Cain’s 2022 concept album “Preacher’s Daughter,” but also in the equally magnificent classics, “An Education” (2009) and “Fish Tank” (2009). “Starling Girl” follows in the footsteps of such stories, and inevitably includes a few predictable beats. Still, Parmet’s careful handling of religious trauma and predatory relationships, and how the two play off of each other, shines through. 

In tackling this concept, Parmet drew from her own experiences as well as her study of women from fundamentalist Christian communities in Arkansas, as she noted in a post-film interview at the festival. These influences are reflected in Parmet’s direction and writing, as she fixates solely on Jem’s perspective.

Scanlen, known for her chilling performance as Amma in Jean-Marc Vallée’s “Sharp Objects” and as Beth in Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women,” is no stranger to depicting doomed teenagedom, so it’s refreshing to see her skills brought to a character brimming with promise.

Jem’s attachment to the life she knows at home is symbolized by the tranquil natural environment of Kentucky, where the film was shot on-location. Parmet’s subtle focus on landscapes of the American south recalls Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari” (2020), and how pastoral settings can represent both beauty and hardship.

A central reason that “Starling Girl” works so well is because it maintains Jem’s agency. Throughout the film, control is exerted over her, first from her family and church community, and later Owen. Parmet transgresses the conventional boundaries of similar stories – she wants the audience to feel the allure of Owen’s stashed cigarettes, to yearn for the possibilities of Jem’s life along with her, to understand how her community simultaneously imbues her with purpose and terror, and to question what it would mean for her to leave it all behind. 

There are few voices of guidance for Jem to turn to, and she finds herself torn between two destructive forces as a result. Parmet isn’t interested in scolding Jem, or bringing her story to a neat conclusion. In fact, the film’s ambiguity is what makes it soar – and by the time the end credits roll to the crooning of Emmylou Harris’ “Tennessee Rose,” it’s clear that Jem’s life extends far beyond the screen. 

Tags

Filmfilm festivallaruel parmetsundancesundance film festivalthe starling girl

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous article10 Underrated Songs by The Beatles
Next articleRenowned photographer gives energetic artist talk

You may also like

Hozier stuns with “Eat Your Young” EP

Diana Khoi Nguyen leads workshop and poetry reading

“Cocaine Bear” indicates the return of camp movies

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

COPYRIGHT © 2023 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top