Welcome to the first of this year's essays! You all actually voted for this film last year, but I forgot to write an essay for it. So I'm doing it now!
VOTE FOR THE REST OF 2019'S ESSAYS HERE!
The forest where they go, symbolises the place in which inner darkness is confronted and worked through; where uncertainty is resolved about who one is; and where one begins to understand who one wants to be.’
Quote from Bruno Bettelheim, which inspired this film.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
Greta is a 14 year old with a severe aversion to her impending adulthood. At home she is stifled by her old fashioned dad, cold mum and vacant sister. At school she seeks solace in Elliott, a fellow loner. Just as Greta's 15th birthday seems to not be as bad as she feared, the school's trio of mean girls turn up. Humiliated, Greta tumbles into a highly symbolic fantasy world when a thief steals her precious childhood music box.
I wanted to like this. I really did. Unfortunately this is the first film I've looked at for this project that I just didn't care for.
The first half of the film which builds up to Greta's 15th birthday party is fabulous and nicely akin to a Wes Anderson film. We spend a lot of the first half getting to know Greta's family and Elliot, which is delightfully quirky and awkward.
The party segment is also amazing. A particular standout being the brilliant dance scene where Greta is given presents by the party's guests, which is choreographed beautifully. (Link to this scene is in the notes at the end of this review.)
The problems start the moment the narrative dives down the rabbit hole. After being humiliated by the school's mean girls who Gatecrash her party, Greta falls into uneasy sleep. A hooded figure steals her childhood music box, and Greta plunges into a woodland dreamscape beyond her garden.
Carroll inspired narratives are hard to get right, and unfortunately Girl Asleep falls into every major pitfall. Too much symbolism (Greta is fond of toy horses, so in woodland she gets to ride one). Too much sense. Doubling of characters to alarmingly obvious levels (Greta's mum is cold, so she's also an ice queen in woodland)
Much like Carroll's Alice, Greta is trapped and cast adrift in a fantasy world where she has to traverse many odd characters. However Alice's adventures resemble actual dreams, whereas Greta's adventures despite being completely dreamt, aren't at all surreal.
`What sort of people live about here?’
`In THAT direction,’ the Cat said, waving its right paw round, `lives a Hatter: and in THAT direction,’ waving the other paw, `lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.’
`But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked.
The Hundra, a fierce woman who helps Greta navigate woodland, is only on screen a minimal amount of time. Sadly her Cheshire cat like guide qualities end up dampened narrative wise when she advises Greta that she is in danger from the woods as she is not yet properly grown up. Like most things in Woodland, the Hundra is a metaphor and a mere plot device to explain to the audience the obvious symbolism.
The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this.
The Abject man that Greta comes across appears as a sort of creepy inversion of the Hatter, but then serves to remind the audience of the love triangle involving Elliott that Greta is running away from.
The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. `Off with his head!’ she said, without even looking round.
Perhaps the Frozen Woman, despite being a clear analogue to Greta's mother, is the only character which truly resembles anything from Carroll in Girl Asleep. The Frozen Woman is a decent reference to the Queen of Hearts and attempts to trap Greta in the ice by luring her in with ideas about the lost music box Greta has been trying to retrieve. It's probably the best scene in the Woodland segment.
she began looking about, and noticed that what could be seen from the old room was quite common and uninteresting, but that all the rest was a different as possible.
In the oddest section of the film, Greta takes a wrong turn and ends up trapped in an alternate looking glass version of her house, stuck in a way worse version of her 15th birthday party. This is an interesting idea but it leads to a tonal shift where the film suddenly goes completely too dark. A 1970s chanson singer attempts to seduce Greta in a scene which is far more suited to a much darker film. Everything about this scene just feels wrong and ill placed. It's an extremely sour note.
The Hundra shows up again, unable to fend off three wild dogs who are actually the mean girls who humiliated Greta earlier. After a fierce fight Greta finally discovers the identity of the music box thief, and is finally allowed to awaken.
If I'm honest, a lot of this film was trying to say reminded me of Valerie and her Week of Wonders, but if it had all its darkness and teeth removed. There's topics this film wishes to speak about but because of its audience, it cannot explore them fully.
Apologies that I couldn't like this as much as I should. It’s a OK inclusion in the Down the Rabbit Hole canon, but sadly, one that's overall just not to my taste.
NOTES:
- Girl Asleep is based on a 2013 play by Matthew Whittet, who stars in the film as Greta's father and the Abject Man. I don't know how different or not the stage version is however as it has never left Australia.
- The stage version script can be brought here.
- Here's a link to the fabulous party dance sequence which features in the film's first half.
