The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)

Elevator Pitch: In 1970s San Francisco Minnie is a fifteen year old girl who fancies her mother’s 35 year old lover, and takes the step of fulfilling her desire for him. From then on she engages in a bit of a roller coaster of sexual activity, recording the results on audio tape and producing drawing in the style of an American cartoonist, which portrays both male genitalia, rather grubby and female genitalia flowery with wings. She shares her experiences with a friend and embarks on a lesbian relationship, but when the lesbian offers her to a drug dealer in exchange for drugs, she realises it is time to stop. The mother finds out, by playing some of the audio tapes, and she is at least temporarily distanced from Minnie.

Content:  There is a lot of sex and nudity in this outing, well that’s what it is about, so Minnie is seen having sex with her mother’s boyfriend, and a young man after they have been swimming. She and her friend fallate a couple of guys in a lavatory, but don’t like it. She does a lot of drawing and at one point engages in a bit of drug taking with Monroe (the boyfriend) and she and her friend attend parties where alcohol is consumed.  And that’s it really.

A View: This film achieved mainly positive reviews, the critics approving of the possible empowerment of a young woman given the ability to do just what young men of a similar age would want to do, but lets face it, probably prevented from doing so by their inexperience. But the point here is, does it make for good cinema? Well actually  the sexual failures of young men are a lot more fun. This film is a one trick pony so whether you like it or not depends what you think of the trick.

Additional Info: There is no doubt that Bel Powley, a 21 year old Brit does a  good job, except according to some, for her accent.