Miller’s Girl, 2023.
Written and Directed by Jade Hailey Bartlett.
Starring Martin Freeman, Jenna Ortega, Gideon Adlon, Bashir Salahuddin, Dagmara Domińczyk, and Christine Adams.
SYNOPSIS:
A creative writing assignment yields complex results between a teacher and his talented student.
Early on in writer/director Jade Hailey Bartlett’s psychosexual Miller’s Girl, Jenna Ortega’s Cairo Sweet retort to back to her friend Winnie (Gideon Adlon) that she doesn’t care about looking sexy, only being smart. Similarly, this film does both of those things, but not enough of each.
Born to filthy rich parents who not only live in a secluded mansion somewhere off in a Tennessee forest but also consistently travel for work, Cairo primarily raises herself and has the home to herself, yet still manages a valedictorian-level GPA. She also indulges in reading erotic novels by Henry Miller. Nevertheless, when Winnie, who has the hots for science teacher Boris Fillmore (Bashir Salahuddin), starts asserting that it’s more rewarding to be with an older man (it is crucial to point out that these girls are 18, even if just about everything going on here is still inappropriate) and that Cairo should both act on her attraction toward her literature teacher, Jonathan Miller (Martin Freeman) and draw from that experience into a college submission paper commenting on age gaps and love, the makings of something trashy but ripe with potential entertainment are set.
However, the games played in Miller’s Girl are grounded and relatively realistic regarding the psychology behind the characters. In a post #MeToo era and a society that often questions whether or not young adults have the mental growth to understand the gravity of what they are doing by getting involved with someone older, it’s also surprising that this script refuses to portray them as helpless victims in this story. There is still a tremendous, thunderously tense scene where Cairo tears into everything about the teacher she idolizes professionally and romantically (equipped with some on-the0nose but appropriate framing flipping the height difference between the characters, rendering the man much smaller than the false confidence he puts out there), but it’s also not a film that sees these girls as blameless.
Without spoiling anything, the film certainly takes a turn, prompting Cairo to take some actions that her teacher may or may not deserve. That feels up for debate, as part of the point also seems to be that, even if Mr. Miller does have well-meaning intentions by acknowledging her gifted writing talent and allowing her the opportunity to get a head start on writing the short story that goes a long way in helping her get into a good college of her choosing, he does blur the lines of appropriate connection without realizing it simply because he feels validated (something his wife played by Dagmara Dominczyk doesn’t do since she is either drinking or on work-related calls.)
Jonathan is in the wrong here, but it’s also easier to be forgiving since the entire basis of this connection and paper mostly comes down to Cairo baiting him into falling for her and hoping he acts on that flirtation as more material for her short story. By the way, Cairo has insisted that she use Henry Miller as a point of reference even if his books are banned in school, although Mr. Miller lets it slide under the assumption that she will be following his narrative structure rather than penning something steamy.
Everyone in Miller’s Girl is giving a committed performance and is riveting to watch, but there’s also the sense that Jade Hailey Bartlett has no perspective or side to take in this story. The ending is anticlimactic and leaves all wondering what the entire point of this story is or what it’s trying to say. It mostly seems to exist as a moral drama begging viewers to debate who is in the right and wrong while acknowledging that 18-year-old girls are not always fragile, innocent butterflies.
However, Miller’s Girl also doesn’t have much of a satisfying mean streak to work on that level, either. That’s also frustrating since there is so much more potential within this concept and the character dynamics. Then there is Winnie and her seductive relationship with Boris, which is less defined and exists more as a plot device to be tossed into the drama between Cairo and Jonathan when the time is right. The marital dysfunction in Jonathan’s life, especially his wife’s alcoholism, also feels painfully forced. Nearly every supporting element is clumsily handled and doesn’t properly fit into the main story.
There is a line in Miller’s Girl that comes up frequently, “overreaching without ambition”, which could apply to this film: all of the ingredients are here for something psychologically gripping with a bold perspective, but there doesn’t seem to be much ambition to do anything beyond tell the story and get out. Even when Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman have some dynamite inappropriate chemistry, that’s not enough.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
