Bosco’s Word: Ginger & Rosa

Continuously displaying far more talent than her older sister, Elle Fanning stars alongside newcomer Alice Englert in Ginger & Rosa, a coming-of-age period piece about two very different but inseparable friends who try to hold their relationship together during the dawn of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Led by a stunning and heartbreaking performance from Elle Fanning, much of the film fails to serve as a proper showcase for her talents, teetering between a story of lost innocence and one about the paranoia she experiences when presented with threat of imminent doom in both the outside world and within the walls of her own home.

Born on the same day, Ginger (Fanning) and Rosa (Englert) have been best friends since before they could even remember. Growing up in post-World War II London, Ginger and Rosa spend most of their days skipping class and exploring the world on their own terms. But when the threat of a nuclear holocaust leaves their fate unsure, the strength of their friendship is tested after a series of bad decisions leaves Ginger and Rosa in a predicament they could have never imagined.

Written and directed by Sally Potter, the film also stars Christina Hendricks as Natalie, who was forced to choose a life of domesticity and motherhood after she became pregnant with Ginger. Once an art student with dreams of becoming a painter, Natalie had to settle down with her husband, Roland (Alessandro Nivola), a very intelligent but very smug college professor; one who discusses the poetic romanticism of minimalist spaces, cries while listening to Schubert, and engages in numerous affairs with his nubile students.

Very present in the film are the varying layers of paranoia that intrude upon the lives of these young girls. Beginning with the rapidly increasing level of unease caused by the Cuban Missile Crisis, which serves as a parallel to the deterioration of Ginger’s friendship with Rosa, Roland’s own distrust of government and the idea of organized religion is passed on to Ginger despite how passionately he supports autonomous thinking.

Unlike most of the people that surround her, Ginger is an educated and thoughtful young woman. She spends much of her time writing poetry and dissecting the works of TS Eliot while Rosa engages in a series of meaningless surface encounters with any boy that will join her. From the beginning, the differences between Ginger and Rosa are obvious, which makes their relationship unconvincing, even when they aren’t fighting. In fact, one scene at a playground perfectly illustrates the dynamic between Ginger and Rosa. While talking on a merry-go-round, Rosa leisurely sits on top while Ginger spins them both round and round, leaving Rosa to dominate the conversation without having to do so much as lift a finger.

Potter’s refusal to clearly define Ginger and Rosa as an inseparable pair brings with it the film’s greatest weakness. While Ginger & Rosa succeeds most when it combines its inspired visual rhythm with the more fascinating aspects of the story, like a brief conversation about Freud’s Theory of Dark Continent and how it relates to Ginger’s birth name, a majority of the film is devoted to why Rosa influences Ginger so much and how their falling out impacts her heavily during this time of crisis. Unfortunately, the lack of development dilutes the effect. And while I’ll admit that the final scenes had an emotional impact on me, I believe it’s more a credit to the strength of Fanning’s performance, and not the film itself.

At 86 minutes, Ginger & Rosa is a brief and briskly paced film, one that doesn’t allow for boredom but also one that doesn’t introduce many ideas that are worth exploring. With a haunting lead performance and excellent cinematography, Ginger & Rosa suffers greatly in the direction of its script which, over the course of its running time, seems more interested in displaying a Malickian style of naturalistic beauty in place of an intriguing narrative.

2.5/5 Grinds