It's San Francisco, 1976. As the city shifts from the pot-fueled hippie idealism of the late-Sixties to the coke-snorting excess and sexual promiscuity of the disco era, 15 year old Minnie Goetz enters womanhood as if it were a baptism by fire. Based on Phoebe Gloeckner's semi-autobiographical graphic novel, The Diary of a Teenage Girl follows Minnie (Bel Powley) going through a gauntlet of sex, drugs, and comic books as the aspiring young cartoonist loses her virginity to her mother's boyfriend, Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård)leading to a tumultuous affair. Minnie's sexual awakening leads to an array of encounters with men and women causing her freewheeling, yet sedated, mother (Kristen Wiig) and estranged stepfather (Christopher Meloni) to suspect their daughter's sudden transformation.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl is a frank and daring film that looks at the celebration and chaos of a young woman's budding sexuality. Unlike previous films about teenagers indulging in their sexual and excessive appetites- such as the immature American Pie or the scared-straight realism of Thirteen- the film walks the fine line at acknowledging teenage angst and sexuality without becoming exploitative. The sexual activity on the screen may cause some controversy, but it is tame compared to Minnie's highly-detailed sexual exploits in the book. However, the film succeeds in showing the active sex life of a teenage girl as opposed to the majority of films featuring horny young men keen on losing their virginity.
Bel Powley, the 22 year old British actress, gives a remarkable performance as Minnie as she walks the fine line between sexual confidence and emotional vulnerability. Alexander Skarsgård gives a moderately good performance as the perverted and manipulative Monroe that rings similar tones to Peter Sarsgaard's performance as the domineering Chuck Trainor in Lovelace. Kristen Wigg adds another successful performance under her belt as a depressed and inebriated matriarch trying to find love and raise her two daughters at the same time. Despite being on screen for ten minutes, Christopher Meloni managed to use every minute to his advantage playing an academic who pines for her two daughters and a stable family life.
Marielle Heller, who starred and produced an Off-Broadway version of The Diary of a Teenage Girl years ago, succeeds in making her directorial debut a faithful and audacious adaptation of Gloeckner's raw tale of relationships and growing up. She manages to capture the anything-goes attitude and drug-fueled turbulence of mid-1970s San Francisco by combining live action with Sara Gunnarsdottir's animated sequences. Even though the film could have gone an extra mile in delving deeper into the original text, The Diary of a Teenage Girl is a candid and moving film about the perils of adolescence and adulthood
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