Girl Picture
Sunday, August 7, 2022 7:16:05 AM | (Age Not Specified)
"Girl Picture" is a look at female friendship and sexuality that feels infused with the open-minded, joyful spirit of it's young characters. It's a fragment of the lives of three girls at the cusp of womanhood, when every moment is so amplified, that even afragment may include a whole universe. It's a film about the need to be seen. 17–18-year-old Mimmi, Emma and Ro¨nkko¨ are girls at what we call a liminal age, right at the cusp of womanhood, fluctuating between childhood and adulthood. At this age the gaze of another person feels like a superpower, it can define, strengthen or change one’s self image in an instant. Closeness with the other is very inviting, it hooks us. And then suddenly, an overwhelming realization takes over, how to be close to another person, if you’re only just drawing your own contours? The story follows the girls on three consecutive Fridays, during which Mimmi and Emma experience the earth moving impact of falling in love, while Ro¨nkko¨ goes on a quest for something she hasn’t yet experienced: pleasure.
The condensed timeframe means it’s a fragment of their lives. But because teenager's lives are so amplified, and every moment counts for everything, a fragment may very well encapsulate a whole universe. And there, in center of the universe emerges the picture of us. Of the film’s many themes, the one that became the most important for me, is the safe freedom of the girls. Mimmi, Emma and Ro¨nkko¨ get to concentrate on exploring their identities without any threats. They catapult at full speed toward emotions, situations and sexuality, on their own terms, and they never end up in danger. They're not punished for desiring. They don’t get warned, belittled, shamed or patronized. In that sense, this is perhaps more a film about the world we aspire for, than the world we live in. And that’s why "Girl Picture" invites us not only to look at girls, but to really see them. Written by Gregory Mann
