Screened as part of NZIFF 2015

The Diary of a Teenage Girl 2015

Directed by Marielle Heller World

An amazing gust of fresh air from the 70s! Starring Kristen Wiig, Alexander Skarsgård and the phenomenal Bel Powley as 15-year-old Minnie, who, brave, funny and ever true to herself, embarks on an affair with an older man.

Aug 19

State Cinema

USA In English
102 minutes CinemaScope / DCP

Director

Producers

Anne Carey
,
Bert Hamelinck
,
Madeline Samit
,
Miranda Bailey

Screenplay

Marielle Heller. Based on the book by Phoebe Gloeckner

Photography

Brandon Trost

Editors

Marie-Hélène Dozo
,
Koen Timmerman

Music

Nate Heller

With

Bel Powley (Minnie)
,
Alexander Skarsgård (Monroe)
,
Kristen Wiig (Charlotte)
,
Christopher Meloni (Pascal)
,
Abby Wait (Gretel)
,
Madeleine Waters (Kimmie)
,
Margarita Levieva (Tabatha)

Festivals

Sundance
,
Berlin
,
New Directors/New Films 2015

Awards

Cinematography Award (US Dramatic), Sundance Film Festival 2015

Elsewhere

Exhilarating in its candour and ironic verve, The Diary of a Teenage Girl recounts the visceral thrills and spills of 15-year-old Minnie (Bel Powley) as she throws herself into her first affair. Her secret lover: the ridiculously easy-going boyfriend (Alexander Skarsgård) of her blithely hedonistic mother (Kristen Wiig).

“Marielle Heller’s tough, irreverent, furiously felt debut feature is faithfully adapted from Phoebe Gloeckner’s 2002 novel of the same name, written in the age of grrl power but set in the mid-70s, when underage girls explored their sexual desires more or less on their own. The narrative takes the form of a diary recorded on audiocassette by Minnie, a 15-yearold aspiring graphic novelist (Aline Kominsky is her idol) who is having an affair with her mother’s 32-year-old boyfriend. Minnie is the aggressor in this affair, and her hunger for sex and love, her wildly swinging emotions, and the fact that she comes through the experience wiser but undaunted are truly liberating.” — Amy Taubin, Film Comment

“Drawing on her acting background, Heller elicits a truly staggering performance from newcomer Bel Powley, who carries the weight of the movie on her slight shoulders as Minnie discovers her sexuality can be a means to both self-worth and self-destruction. Kristen Wiig delivers as Minnie’s substance-dependent bohemian mother, particularly in the film’s darker second half, and Alexander Skarsgård infuses the conflicted Monroe with a great deal of sympathy and subtle comedy.” — Emma Myers, Film Comment