The Trailer:
Director: Sally Potter
Cast: Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Christina Hendricks, Alessandro Nivola, Timothy Spall, & Annette Bening
Plot Summary: In 1960's London, a friendship between Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert) is pushed to the limits amid the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Hmmm, what to say about Ginger & Rosa? There's a lot to like about this film as there is a lot to dislike. While a good chuck of the foundation that was laid out was promising, the film never reached its full potential. It remained rather shallow throughout, though it did make slight dips into more complex issues.
Let me start out by stating the most obvious misstep of the movie: the accents. The accents aren't terrible, but they're only okay. Elle Fanning's accent is acceptable, but Christina Hendricks' accent is the one that is most distracting: it sounds too forced. Another misstep, for me personally, is the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis (which I will now refer to as the Crisis). With such a tense moment in history, there should've been more put into how that near-destruction fear shaped these two teenage girls and their futures, yet the Crisis is only a mirror to the impending detonation in the relationships between various characters. The Crisis has no real impact on the story. Which is unfortunate because I think that would've been a more interesting story than the one we got. Third misstep, the characters. Did the writer intend for all the characters to be utterly unlikable? Rosa and Ginger are annoying, whiny, bratty, rude, disrespectful teenagers. And while this is an authentic reflection of real teenagers, it was still difficult to watch them because they were so dang annoying. Ginger is most annoying in the fact that she complained about her mother being a "depressed monster" and yet she was no different: Ginger was depressed because she feared a world that would continue on without her, figuratively and literally. Rosa is annoying because she thinks she is so grown up and believes she can put together the broken pieces of Ginger's father, Roland (Alessandro Nivola). But she does this at the expense of her friendship with Ginger. Roland is annoying because he becomes romantically involved with his daughter's best friend. Like how could he not know what kind of effect that would have on Ginger and his marriage to Natalie (Christina Hendricks)? Actually all the characters aren't completely detestable. Natalie's only faults are being married to an unfaithful hypocrite, and having had Ginger when she was sixteen.She has since tried her best to prevent Ginger from the same fate. She isn't a terrible woman, but lost. Anoushka (Jodhi May), Rosa's mother is absent for most of the film, and we only get details about her through Rosa's poor opinion of her. What we do see though is a woman who has tried her best, even though she is a single mother with a ungrateful daughter. I especially loved Tomothy Spall's character of Mark, Ginger's Godfather, and Annette Benning as Bella. Both characters become the moral compass with their impeccable wisdom and sincere advice. They are the only people who can coax Ginger into facing her fears and defeating them.
What I did like about the movie is the story, though I say like loosely. The story, stripped of it's embellishments, is one we've seen before: two friends toeing the line between adolescence and adulthood, begin to drift apart as their interests differ. Rosa is interested in boys and making out and smoking and drinking, eager for a future where she can be away from her mother: what is typically expected of a rebellious teenager. Ginger on the other hand wants to make a change, to ban the bomb, and to begrudgingly accept her father and Rosa's relationship while also being terrified that there will be no future. Their common thread is the fact that they both despise their mothers. And while I usually appreciate films that test a seemingly solid friendship, I wasn't entirely impressed by this. The girls are friends by circumstance as it was their mothers who were friends first. And throughout the film there is a strained, passive aggressive toned dialogue between them as though this rift widening between them has been there for some time. It seems as though they've remained friends for this long only because they are afraid of a life without someone to depend on, not necessarily because they truly like each other. Though I did like the ideas that sprang up through their conversations, such as religion, politics, feminism, pacifism, becoming part of a movement, growing up too fast, and etc. Rosa's seemingly odd belief that God will find a way to make things better is a complete contrast to the rebellious, "troubled" life she leads. Ginger's beliefs on feminism stem from her father's skewed idea of what a woman should be. Also Ginger's complete dedication to the movement to ban the bomb is admirable, but without depth, She only becomes intensely invested in the movement as a way to avoid having to think about Rosa and Roland's relationship. Another aspect that I appreciated was that in the end nothing was resolved. There was no great happy ending, only the hope that one day everything will be forgiven and forgotten. And the most fantastic ingredient of the film is the acting. Every single actor gave absolutely amazing, raw, truthful performances. And even though I didn't like certain characters, I was still impressed by the actors' ability to so completely embody them.
Overall Ginger& Rosa is a decent film. It's subtle and simple. And while I feel it had so much potential, in the end it fell flat. I wasn't particularly moved or impacted by the film and I'll probably forget about it in a few weeks. Would I watch it again? Nah, I'll pass.
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