I wish I had come of age in the world of “Girl Picture.” Alli Haapasalo’s Sundance award winner follows three 17- or 18-year-old young women as they begin to figure out who they are and what they want — and the film gives them the space to do so, in an environment with very little judgement, pressure, or guilt. In Haapasalo’s own words: “In ‘Girl Picture’ girls aren’t punished, shamed, belittled, patronized, or even warned. They explore their identities completely without danger, and nothing stops them from being who they are. You might say that this is a utopian world, but we really wanted everyone – and especially girls – to have a film like this to watch.”
Hopefully adolescent girls do have the chance to check the Finnish film out, as they’ll be able to witness stories that feel very familiar, yet feature the type of conflict we rarely get to see in teen movies. Two girls fall in love, and are giddy about it, not confused, tortured, or worried about being accepted. Another young woman embarks on a quest for sexual pleasure that doesn’t result in slut shaming, STIs, or pregnancy.
Set over a few weeks, “Girl Picture” introduces us to best friends Mimmi (Aamu Milonoff) and Rönkkö (Eleonoora Kauhanen) and a classmate of theirs, Emma (Linnea Leino). Mimmi is rebellious, a little punk, and a little angry, in contrast to the happy-go-lucky, teensy bit awkward Rönkkö. Emma is hyper-focused on figure skating, to the exclusion of almost everything else; when we meet her, her primary goal is to make it to the European Championships. However, over the course of the film, the girls’ priorities, desires, and senses of self shift. The spark between Mimmi and Emma inspires the former to be more open and less contrarian, and the latter to make room in her life for something other than skating. Rönkkö, meanwhile, is frustrated that sex isn’t as fun for her as it seems to be for everyone else she knows. So she decides to be more proactive in finding out what she likes, or if sex even does it for her at all.
Ilona Ahti and Daniela Hakulinen’s script and the three central performances do an excellent job depicting this, to quote Haapasalo again, “liminal” time in a teenage girl’s life. Mimmi, Rönkkö, and Emma aren’t quite fully formed; they’re still in the process of becoming themselves. Is Mimmi’s alternative vibe genuine, or is it masking something she doesn’t want anyone to see? Is skating, the life of an elite athlete, something that Emma is still prepared to commit to? Is Rönkkö trying to hurry along her imminent sexual awakening, or is she in the early stages of realizing she is asexual and/or aromantic?
It’s such a treat to tag along with these girls as they ask these questions and seek some answers.
“Girl Picture” is now in theaters.
