‘Girls Will Be Girls’ Review – A Brilliant, Layered Look At Rich Inner-Lives [Sundance 2024]

Growing up, there was no shortage of material that centered around the burgeoning sexuality of boys. Fantasies about your school crush, finding a stash of nudie mags, unexpected boners at inopportune times – this was all on the table and more. For many young women, viewing these storylines was one of the only ways they got to see anything in the proximity of what they might be going through – an experience decidedly not their own. If this was the feeling in somewhat more progressive parts of the world, you can imagine the feeling of isolation experienced in more stringently conservative countries. The media landscape has gotten better in the past decade, especially, thanks in part to the determination of filmmakers such as Shuchi Talati, who has shaken off the patriarchal cobwebs of this period to try to balance the scales with her brilliant feature debut Girls Will Be Girls. The film captures the complexity of young female sexuality with all the sensitivity and honesty missing for so many years.

The film takes us back to the period of the late 1990s in India when the opening up of western exports ushered in a clash of societal values as the traditional, “virtuous” Indian culture squared off against the creeping moral decay of the west. Talati deftly explores the confines of the culture from two fronts; Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) is the Head Prefect at her highly regimented boarding school. She is the ideal rule-follower who is used as an example for her classmates on how to behave and present themselves in the world. She is given an immense amount of trust by her teachers because they have built her up to be the perfect “virtuous” young woman. Anila (Kani Kusruti) is Mira’s mother who used to attend the same boarding school when she was younger. She is primarily left to her own devices as her husband is away working. There is a mild streak of envy behind her eyes for what her daughter has that is missing in her unfulfilled life. Both women are tremendously more multi-dimensional than society wants to allow. 

Things begin to break open when Mira begins to develop feelings for Sri (Kesav Binoy Kiron), a transplant at the school who has traveled the world but is often forgotten by his parents. Sri is extremely charismatic and even endearing in many regards, but Mira is assured enough not to sacrifice her strength in the process of their initial attraction – an early astronomy scene is the perfect blend of sensual, playful, and confident. Due to the conservative nature of the school, the two must keep their blossoming relationship hidden. Of course, this would not be a problem for Sri, but the expectations for girls are much more strict. When an issue of gross, covert pictures being taken of girls without their knowledge comes up, the first step is to instruct the girls to wear longer skirts rather than punish the boys for not having an ounce of decency or self-control. This aggression towards women only grows more bold as the story moves along. 

With school ruled out as an option, the pair begin to spend quite a bit of time at Mira’s house with Anila. Her mother is a bit less conservative than those at the school, but she is far from the “cool mom” trope who might let her daughter run wild. Instead, a dynamic grows between the three that is completely riveting and at times unpredictable. Thanks to the confined nature of the 1.50:1 aspect ratio captured by Jih-E Peng, every scene in this house feels exponentially more intimate and crackles with tension. With Sri in the house, you can never quite nail down what is going on in Anila’s head. One moment she could simply be a motherly figure to a boy in need, while in another there is an affectionate touch that will raise some eyebrows no matter the intention. What is clear is that, like her daughter, Anila is not an asexual being content with her lot in life, and each of them is figuring out what they desire.  

To be clear, Girls Will Be Girls is not a salacious movie about a mom who steals her daughter’s boyfriend. This is a story about two women at different points in their lives who are trying to find fulfillment in a patriarchal society. Mira is essentially who her teachers think she is, but she is also in charge of her sexuality. She intimately knows herself, and her love of knowledge that fuels her academics also informs her sexuality. She derives pleasure from being informed about the ins and outs of anatomy, and exploring this with Sri is as titillating of an act as anything to her. Anila has been left to wither on the vine as your classic housewife, but she still has a vibrancy she is not ready to suppress. To see her freely dancing in her living room is one of the most poignant moments of the film. She desperately wants to be seen, but she is not free to say so. There are major clashes between mother and daughter, but in the end, they are two sides of the same oppressed coin. 

Shuchi Talati takes her characters and the audience through a range of complex, conflicting emotions that allow them to be fully developed and completely mesmerizing. The writing paired with the unbelievable performances from the two leads lands them a spot among the great mother-daughter pairings on screen. Girls Will Be Girls acts as a welcome counterbalance to the glut of male-dominated coming-of-age films, but the film should not be reduced to that. It is a vital look at the rich inner lives of women and what is lost when it is suppressed. 

Girls Will Be Girls had its World Premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

Director: Shuchi Talati

Writer: Shuchi Talati

Rated: NR

Runtime: 118m