Film Review: THE STARLING GIRL (2023): Eliza Scanlen is Terrific in Laurel Parmet’s Deep, Thought-Provoking Dramatic Film

The Starling Girl Review

The Starling Girl (2023) Film Review, a movie directed by Laurel Parmet and starring Eliza Scanlen, Lewis Pullman, Jimmi Simpson, Wrenn Schmidt, Claire Elizabeth Green, Ellie May, Austin Abrams, Chris Dinner, Paige Leigh Landers, Kieran Sitawi, Brianna Bronger, Jessamine Burgum, Kyle Secor, Andrew Riley Stephens, Abby Hobek and K.J. Baker.

Filmmaker Laurel Parmet’s amazing, profound drama, The Starling Girl, features a phenomenal leading performance by Eliza Scanlen as a Christian teenage girl named Jem Starling who learns some very hard lessons about life. Parmet’s movie is well-layered featuring a premise which is believable and acting which is all of the highest caliber. A movie like this doesn’t come along too often and should be embraced by those seeking unconventional and skillfully made independent cinematic dramas.

As the film opens, Jem is a young girl in a nowhere Kentucky town who loves dancing and she later becomes involved with choreographing dance moves as this is her primary means of expression. She’s quiet and smart but she’s also overcome with the demanding desires of her very strict religious family. Her mother is Heidi (Wrenn Schmidt) who would prefer she settle down and get to know a young local boy but Jem isn’t really interested. Jem gets to know a Pastor who’s a bit older than she is, Owen Taylor (Lewis Pullman). We learn Owen is married to a woman named Misty (Jessamine Burgum). Owen is not the most devout person of faith and finds himself involved in a steamy affair with Jem as the plot proceeds to unfold.

Everything that could go wrong does go wrong for Jem over the course of the film. She’s burdened by her father, Paul (a well-cast Jimmi Simpson) who is struggling with his own personal issues. It almost feels like Jem’s parents use the word of God to try to marry off Jem before bad things start to happen in the movie. Owen makes Jem feel special but he ultimately seems to be using her to fulfill his own hidden sexual desires.

There are many heartbreaking scenes in this film. Perhaps the most effective one is when Owen puts Jem in the bath tub in his bathroom to hide her from his wife when Misty comes home unexpectedly. Jem sits there in the tub for hours waiting for Owen to come get her and he never arrives so Jem sneaks out and is seen by her sister. That means there’s some suspicion as to what’s going on with Jem. She’s doing something at Owen’s home and the sister doesn’t have a hard time putting two and two together. In the interim, Misty (who’s working with Jem at the church) is giving Jem a hard time with her dance moves making it very hard for Jem to express herself like she used to.

The plot thickens when Owen turns the tables on Jem and he tries to break free of his relationship with her. Soon, Jem’s parents think she’s a sinner and put her in front of a congregation asking for forgiveness for what she has done. But, she hasn’t done anything that was truly reckless. She was manipulated by an older man and taken advantage of. To make matters worse, Jem is pulled from being able to dance which leaves her feeling hopeless.

A tremendously disturbing scene has Jem attempting to drown the young boy who her parents wanted to set her up with. This young man tries to save her when he suspects she may be trying to drown herself and Jem reacts in a rather harsh way which derives from the anger she is feeling towards Owen and towards those who can’t respect her need for individuality.

The Starling Girl doesn’t sugarcoat anything at all in terms of the material it presents to the audience. It’s a masterful piece of film-making. The ending may have no resolve but that’s because this is a story about the need for one to have freedom of personal expression in a world that tries to pigeonhole us into distinct roles in society. The people who try to do this in the world can sometimes be our own friends, neighbors and family members.

This movie would not work if Scanlen’s performance was anything less than perfect. Her performance is one of the best so far this year as we see her being ridiculed for following her heart. Scanlen brings intensity and passionate sincerity to the role. Parmet has worked with Scanlen wonderfully and has shaped and created one of the most memorable female screen characters of 2023.

The supporting cast is in fine form. Wrenn Schmidt has a difficult role as Heidi– a mother who must try to accept what her daughter has done as she is expected to do as a mom. However, her rejection of Jem and failure to try to see her side of the story leads to possibly Jem’s greatest heartbreak. Jem, in turn, later on in the film, would believe Owen was sincere if he told her he was even though he had clearly lied to her. Lewis Pullman, as Owen, makes us understand why Jem falls for Owen. Jem wants to escape the circumstances she finds herself in and Owen becomes an easy companion. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to have intentions to leave his wife until a major plot development occurs.

And, The Starling Girl is also unpredictable. The ending offers no easy answers. It could have copped out with a less satisfying ending in another director’s hands. Those last moments of this film are absolutely perfect, though thanks to the fact that they help define the main character of the picture. Laurel Parmet has made one of the most interesting and uncomfortable, yet also one of the most important, movies of the year. This is the type of film that demands the audience’s attention at all times. Eliza Scanlen is a true star-in-the-making.

Rating: 9/10

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