Women and Hollywood has temporarily suspended our recommendations newsletter. We’ll be sharing some of the week’s highlights in TV, VOD, and streaming via blog posts.
When we spoke to Martha Stephens about her latest film, “To the Stars,” she told us she was drawn to the project because of “the longing that hangs like a fog over all of the characters.” She said, “It was such a beautifully written screenplay, and the yearning and aching I sensed between the words in Shannon Bradley-Colleary’s script was palpable.”
After watching the 1961-set coming-of-age drama, I have to agree with Stephens. The general dissatisfaction among “To the Stars'” main characters, and the ways they do or don’t try to find happiness, are what makes it compelling.
The story is mostly concerned with teenagers Iris (Kara Hayward) and Maggie (Liana Liberato). The former is a socially ostracized, painfully shy farmer’s daughter; the latter is the effortlessly glamorous, gregarious new girl in town. Neither really feels seen, or understood, until they find one another.
They’re not the only ones suffering. Part of “To the Stars'” success is its understanding of the dark side of small-town, middle American life. The story takes place in Oklahoma, before the history-changing social movements of the ’60s fully took off or made an impact across the country. Everyone in Iris and Maggie’s community knows they must conform, or face rejection. Iris’ parents are unhappily married, but consider divorce out of the question; her mother drinks, bullies, and flirts to blunt her sadness, while Iris’ dad mostly just avoids talking to his wife. At first, Maggie’s stern parents seem like villains, but really, they believe the only way to protect their daughter, whom they love dearly, is by severely punishing any perceived flaw.
In a world completely dictated by so-called norms, no one is really free to be themselves. Everyone, to some extent, is playing a role — whether they’re fully cognizant of it or not.
Although it peters out a bit toward the end, “To the Stars” is overall a very affecting portrait of young women finding courage and confidence, even in the most restrictive of circumstances. Iris and Maggie have more options than their mothers, but are nowhere near as liberated as their daughters and granddaughters will be. They can’t revolutionize 1961 Oklahoma, but they have each other. That’s victory enough.
“To the Stars” is now available on Digital.
