Girl Asleep
2015 · Directed by Rosemary Myers
Original language: English
- fantasy
- comedy
- drama
The story
The world is closing in on Greta Driscoll. On the cusp of turning fifteen, she can’t bear to leave her childhood; it contains all the things that give her comfort in an incomprehensible new world. She floats in a bubble of loserdom with her only friend, Elliott, until her parents throw her a surprise fifteenth birthday party and she’s flung into a parallel place—a world that’s weirdly erotic, a little bit violent, and thoroughly ludicrous. Only there can she find herself.
What it’s like
Warm, saturated 1970s suburban colour: lamplit living rooms, pastel party decor, and a storybook fantasy world rendered in stage-like painted sets, bold primaries, and playful, deliberately artificial composition. Camera work is composed and mostly static, with framed tableaux that let odd details breathe, and the handmade, theatrical texture gives the whole film a slightly dreamlike, toy-box feel. Its vibe is wistful and absurd, a little awkward and a little uncanny, the kind of film that suits a quiet weekend afternoon or a late evening when you want something strange but tender. The pacing is loose and unhurried, with comic beats giving way to bruised quiet moments as Greta, a fifteen-year-old reluctant to outgrow childhood, drifts between her shy friendship with Elliott and a surreal birthday-night detour. Her arc is about learning to face adolescence on her own terms, rather than a plot-driven journey. Intensity is moderate: there is some mild violence, brief sexual undertones and suggestive imagery tied to the fantasy world, and unsettling moments, but no gore and nothing graphic. It is for viewers who enjoy offbeat coming-of-age stories, Australian indie sensibilities, and films that treat young womanhood with humour and honesty.
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