Bethany Whitmore (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Girl Asleep begins as a lightly comedic look at the plight of being a teenager. By the end, it’s become something far more ambitious, surreal, and mystifying.
In that way, Australian theater director Rosemary Myers’ feature debut mimics the turbulent emotions a young high school student faces as she begins to create a world for herself and navigate it on her own. The movie attempts a tricky tonal balance, alternating moments of goofy levity with ominous portent. Not everything works—a few supporting characters never progress beyond one-dimensional sketches—but the film packs visual panache and potent feeling into its short runtime.
The opening scene betrays little of the psychological turbulence that awaits protagonist Greta Driscoll (Bethany Whitmore) in the story’s ensuing days. She quietly sits on a bench, then exchanges tentative pleasantries with eager Elliott (Harrison Feldman), who has pure intentions but comes across a bit too strong for Greta’s tastes. The camera holds steady on the pair for more than four minutes as little incidents flit behind them. Greta seems to be only passively engaged with the world, even when a trio of glamorous popular girls arrives to take the new girl under their wing.
Socializing with the new girls proves to be a chore. Life at home isn’t any less frustrating for Greta. When they’re not fighting with her older sister Genevieve (Imogen Archer), her parents Janet (Amber McMahon) and Conrad (Matthew Whittet, who adapted the screenplay from his stage play of the same name) dote on her every move. She and Elliott begin to strike up a friendship, but progress grinds to a halt when Janet and Conrad throw a raucous party with her classmates. As any shy 14-year old would be, Greta is mortified.
Once the party begins, further absurdism takes on disco choreography with Sylvester’s “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” on the soundtrack. The spectacle quickly becomes too much for Greta, who retreats into her room, into her bed, and into her dreams. Some of the key figures in Greta’s life pop up in different, more fantastical forms.
The film establishes an unusual tone more akin to Wes Anderson’s playful whimsy than a standard teen comedy. The set design is quaint and pointed, with bright colors and carefully laid out knick-knacks strewn across the background. Characters frequently speak directly to the camera, a device that can be alienating in the hands of an unskilled director, but Myers keeps control of, breaking the fourth wall only to heighten Greta’s distant relationship from the bustle of her surroundings.
The only false note comes when Greta wakes up from her dream and quickly resolves many of the outstanding issues keeping her from feeling peace. For her, adolescence is a puzzle to be solved, but for many, it’s a quandary whose solution remains eternally elusive.
For the most part, Girl Asleep finds clever ways to convey on film what can’t be expressed with words. Learning how to be an adult while living in the same world where you were a kid can be frightening. It can seem like everyone’s out to get you, or only in it for themselves. Growing up is a process—a scary, funny, bewildering, unsettling one. Girl Asleep is all of those things, and suggests a promising future for its creative team.
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Girl Asleep
Directed by Rosemary Myers
Written by Matthew Whittet
With Bethany Whitmore, Harrison Feldman, Matthew Whittet
Not rated
87 minutes
Opens tomorrow at Landmark E Street Cinema
