Two remarkable young actresses, Elle Fanning and Alice Englert (Beautiful Creatures), illuminate Sally Potter’s coming-of-age tale set in a pre-feminist 60s London bohemia.
Fanning’s genuinely breathtaking performance, beautifully captures innocence at the moment of its passing.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2013
Ginger & Rosa 2012
“Best friends forever, Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (newcomer Alice Englert) have grown up together and are now on the brink of adulthood, strutting their bathtub-shrunk jeans and flaunting their
own brand of teenage existentialism. One fears annihilation, the other invites it. Ginger is preoccupied with the Cold War and the mounting threat of nuclear devastation. Rosa is defiant – her revolution is sexual – a form of protest that will irrevocably impact on their families, her future and ultimately, the girls’ friendship.
“While Sally Potter’s (Orlando, The Tango Lesson) intoxicating coming-of-age drama is historically specific in its 60s London setting, its relevance to the current era of ill-defined protest and the question of generational legacy is palpable. The left-leaning adults – Ginger’s carefree bohemian
father (Alessandro Nivola), her frustrated mother (Christina Hendricks) and her mother’s politically active friends (Annette Bening, Timothy Spall and Oliver Platt) all give lessons on freedom and responsibility that prove flawed and hypocritical when turbulent reality encroaches on idealism.” — Clare Stewart, London Film Festival
“An empathetic and aware film, Ginger & Rosa is several striking things all at once. It’s an adult look at the teenage years, an examination of how personal emotions inform political action, a noteworthy change of pace for writer-director Sally Potter and, most of all, the showcase for a performance by
Elle Fanning as Ginger that is little short of phenomenal… She’s reason enough to see the film all by herself.” — Kenneth Turan, LA Times