All right, I said yesterday that, as you’re not surprised I watched this since TikTok told me to. So, let’s talk about! [Spoilers headed your way!]
There was a ‘content warning at the background that said, “This film contains flashing lights, themes of trauma, and an unlikable female protagonist.”
I was sort of blown away at the unlikable female protagonist part of the warning. Like, what? Apparently, I guess it was a joke based on what focus groups had said. I dunno!
It had SUCH an interesting opening, showing our lead seeing the internet just destroying her.
The opening was really effective, in part, because all of the things they had people saying about her were versions of things people have really have said about people in their downfalls. It felt super real, and possible. And I thought her despondent reactions super humanized her immediately. So, she certainly didn’t start unlikable (to me, anyway).
One running thing that was kind of interesting was, her even starting at the beginning, almost ‘wanting’ trauma… seemingly at that point, to feel something, or feel shaped by something. And just the idea of do certain survivors of trauma become ‘celebrities’? Is this a new class of people we have? And if so, what does that mean? And what is the line between ‘activist’ and ‘trauma celebrity’?
Like, I just felt there were some questions that were implied in the movie that were interest.
The plot was fascinating, and for the most part believable – EXCEPT (super spoiler!) Dani had made all these fake photos of herself in France. People thought she was there during a terrorist attack. That’s how she became famous for a hot sec.
Later in the movie, she’s found out because she LEAVES HER LAPTOP OPEN AT WORK.
If your fame is built on THAT giant of a lie – a type of lie you could probably never tell anyone, not even a therapist, perhaps – if it is basically a bigger secret than I can even wrap my head around:
a) Why would you not FULLY delete the evidence completely from everywhere it might exist? You don’t need those photoshop files anymore. You’re not still working on those photos. They’re public. It all happened. GET RID of the editing files. For what are you keeping them?!
And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow!