Miller's Girl

Miller's Girl presents a perspective of a romantic affair between a student (Jenna Ortega as Cairo Sweet) and its teacher (Martin Freeman as Jonathan Miller). It is a very ambitious and intriguing idea to explore, I really liked the plot and how it slowly unfolded, how the characters evolved and how eventually Cairo and Martin turned out to be complex characters that carried a lot of personal and professional baggage yet they connected and felt heard and understood thanks to their mutual interest in literature and writing. Now, obviously there's a lot more that's going on, more nuances, subtlety and delicacy and not to even mention the other "situationship" presented but it makes you wonder on another level... does love have limits? Is there such a thing as a forbidden love? Does even right or wrong exist when love is involved? Or, at the same time... is it really about love or is it something else?

Both Freeman and Ortega deliver good performances and it serve their characters well, but it sometimes felt during the first acts like they lacked that chemistry, that connection that was supposed to urge their attraction, desire, tension; that "I want it so bad that nothing else matters"; their interaction with other characters involved seemed more natural than when they were together.

Jade Halley Bartlett creates this motion picture with a sort of aristocratic dark fantasy visual language and score in mind which plays an important part in the production itself especially in certain scenes implying the ideas of mystery, of desire, even of the forbidden and the unacceptable - yet, it felt a bit all over the place and unnecessary at times because it created a few clichés such as the mysterious girl that comes out of a misty forest thingy and it just pulls you out of the story.

Throughout the film it seems to be an incomplete puzzle yet in such a good way because you get most of the pieces, but you also have to create the missing ones by yourself. The ending is arguably the most impactful and well made on this matter because even though an open ending is not reinventing the wheel, this time the final scene can actually be interpreted in such many ways, all of them viable and credible since, as earlier mentioned, the film was packed with many nuances and tones, hints and implies of what actually might have happened.

The film is pretty good when reflected a bit upon it.

I had high hopes. From the trailer it looked interesting and aesthetically pleasing but I was very wrong. Unfortunately by the end of the movie I was left feeling frustrated because, the main thing about this movie - the tension, it was non existent.

There was no chemistry between the main protagonists. Zero. And Martin's heavy breathing in Jenna's face was very uncomfortable to watch...

Jenna on the other hand... Oh God, where do I even start?? She was so stiff the whole time it was seriously hard to watch. I don't know when this movie was filmed, but she seems stuck in her "Wednesday" role. Yes, her character is supposed to be strong, opinionated, witty, charming, seductive... But she fails to deliver any of it! She doesn't seem like clever teenage girl suddenly shaken and intrigued by an unexpected new variable in her life, at times she kinda looks bored. Her narrating was good though. But like I mentioned, the main point of the movie, the taboo of the desire and magnetism between main characters, is absolutely lacking. It's almost cringe and uncomfortable watching their scenes of "passion and attraction"...

To sum it up - good idea, poorly executed. Shame.

Honestly, this film isn't good or bad. It's meant to portray an important message to young adults and adolescents but in possibly the worse way possible and creating an abundance of controversy. Behind the obvious salacious context of the situation, it's a layered story about the characters trying to achieve emancipation through their affairs but failing to acknowledge a boundary between people, whether in power or any given scenario it can lead to detrimental consequences. Because, casting a boundary is knowing the risk being took. Other than the horrible lesson portraying I loved cinematography, felt very subtle and eerie, but still and calm. They emphasized that with all the lamps in every room possible. I live in Tennessee myself, and I come to look at it through a different perspective thanks to the euphoric atmosphere of this film. In its own way. Moving from that moment and addressing the big 50/50 question is I don't think Cairo is the villain. She's just a young human who fell for the wrong heart. Humans make mistakes and greater lessons sprout from that, as in the ending scene she was shown to forgive Miller and also grow significantly as a young adult. The lesson in the film is important for any young adult struggling with accountability. Social boundaries, self reflection. Other than that the dialogue was actually hysterical I felt like I was reading a novel by Fitzgerald because no one talks like that in their day to day life the dialogue is like their reading a screenplay. But I guess it all just emphasizes the culture of the film, it being adapted from a play of course. The accents were horrible though in my defense, I understand it takes place in Tennessee but the accents were too inconsistent and dry. Should have been left out but other than the the acting was simply flawless, enough to get me through and mesmerized in some scenes.

First off hands off to the entire cast. They are quite good in this film and the script especially when the main characters quotes dialogue is really well written. I was expecting something rather poor from the 5.2 review on imdb but I honestly think most people who watched this didn't get the point the director was making.

Jenna Ortega plays a fairly unbelievable character let's get that out there not only is she a siren but she has a plan and is incredibly clever, well if you know anything about 18 year olds this is quite far fetched. Martin Freeman is the naive muse in an Luke warm marriage flattered by the attraction and attention of a young good looking fan and it spirals in a rather prectible way but what makes this better than most fatal attraction movies is his conduct I don't want to mention spoilers in my reviews but he got burned for a thought.

A poetic cinematic experience that follows Cairo Sweet, a student fond of literature, looking for experiences to write for a writing assignment, and her teacher Jonathan Miller, in a story full of blurry lines.

The social commentary in Miller's Girl is accomplished in a tasteful gothic dreamlike style with a script that gives just enough information to let the audience fill in the blank spaces.

The film's greatest asset is depicting desire as something that has to be realized yet deludes its owner every time its reach is closer to fulfillment, making the situation ambiguously complex. This is rendered brilliantly throughout the film, especially in the dialogues the protagonist has with herself. An open door that lets us in in the melancholic naivety of what it means to be young and flawed in a world that values perfection above all, yet it is found nowhere, and that crave for independence from inherited beliefs, and the natural thrill and anxious ache for the unknown and uncharted territories.