FILM: God Help the Girl is a charming directorial debut from the Belle and Sebastian songerwriter, writes Debbie Lynn Elias
With a beguiling adorable awkwardness, first time screenwriter/director Stuart Murdoch puts a song in your heart and a spring in your step with the oh-so-lovely, GOD HELP THE GIRL.
Lead singer-songwriter of the Scottish pop/rock group Belle and Sebastian, Murdoch makes the jump to film with a musical that is truly a musical, with songs and their lyrics built into the story and dialogue. Tapping into the ideal of music as the common denominator of the world, with the opening scene and eye-catching number, “Act of the Apostle”, Murdoch strikes an easy chord thanks to not only his easy-breezy yet thematically telling pop tunes (which you will be humming as you leave the theatre) but with a youthful exuberant cast who act, sing, dance and yes, do all their own vocals.
Set in a quiet, cobblestoned, pastoral suburb of Glasgow, we meet Eve as she is sneaking out late at night of what we presume to be a boarding school, heading off to see bands at a local club. Appearing to be open mic night, the crowd rocks out to Wobbly Legged Rats and their sexy frontman and lead singer, Anton (who seems to have eyes for Eve), before being less than wowed by newcomer singer-guitarist James who appears bandless but for the house drummer loudly banging in the background, prompting an all-out barroom brawl. One look at Eve and you know that there’s something about James and his music that speaks to her.
On her returning “home”, we realize that Eve is not in a boarding school, but in a residential treatment facility/psychiatric hospital for a severe eating disorder. Through conversations with her psychiatrist, we learn just enough to know Eve has had a tough life, a life that pushed her into depression and this disorder. Unable to cope, Eve’s one outlet is songwriting and music. Pouring her feelings into lyrics is emotionally freeing. But she wants more. She wants to perform.
Stifled and wanting out of the facility, Eve moves into a room in James’ apartment, allowing her to partner up with him to write songs. Although Eve believes she needs James’ help, James is convinced that Eve has a God-given talent and he’s just there to provide musical support. Joining in the mix is Cassie, a music student of James’ for some time. She wants more than practicing methodical scales over and over and over. She wants to write and sing and perform; and inspired by Eve, that’s exactly what she starts to do. And so, on one bright summer day, a music group is formed.
But as with most groups comes trials and tribulations as James is falling for and pines away for Eve who is oblivious to his intentions as she is smitten with Anton who has promised to get her demo CD to some local radio DJs. And Cassie, well, while a bit flighty, is up for anything James and Eve want to do.
As worlds and wants start colliding and long buried truths emerge, not to mention Eve running out of a much needed medication to keep her on an emotionally even keel, can the trio hold things together or will they fall apart just as their career starts to take flight?
Emily Browning is luminous as Eve. Walking the fine line between fragility and calculating tough as nails persona, Browning soars with a sincerity and beauty. Browning knows how to use the camera with her eyes and it doesn’t take much before you find yourself hypnotized by her, drawn ever deeper into Eve’s world. It’s a delicate dance that is only enhanced by an amazing strong and versatile voice that evokes wistful emotion, defiance, pain and joy with every note.
I first took note of Olly Alexander some years back in “Bright Star”. He has an understated quality that many audiences are just now discovering thanks to his work in “Penny Dreadful.” Here, as the nerdy James, Alexander laces the character with a touch of musically superior arrogance that gives James a duality that is both confident and not. It’s an interesting approach that is compelling, serving as a connective thread that balances the contrasting personas of Browning’s Eve and Hannah Murray’s Cassie. And again, his musical talents are not wasted here.
Hannah Murray delights as Cassie. Free-spirited yet needing to break free of the rigidity of her family’s wealth and prominence, Murray adds a touch of ditziness to Cassie that is warm and welcoming – and charmingly funny. She finds strong footing with a “coming of age” and “finding of self” tone that buoys the dynamic of the three principals.
The real joy of GOD HELP THE GIRL is the music and the story construct as it incorporates the specific songs and lyrics into the plot. This is not a case of songs just being “dropped in” for amusement. Each is staged as part of the script and are poignant, speaking to specific thematic and tonal elements of the moment, yet never feeling heavy or maudlin.
Gorgeous locations throughout Glasgow and its West End just add to the overall experience – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow’s Central Station, the Botanic Gardens (a stunner to be sure), the Victorian era Western Baths Club – and make a wonderful mini-travelogue for Glasgow.
Icing on the cake with GOD HELP THE GIRL is Denise Coombs costume design. Blending nods to 60’s pop, Twiggy and the British invasion with a 50’s vibe and even post-WWII London, costuming – especially for Emily Browning’s Eve – leaps off the screen, begging to be seen on pages in Vogue.
Charming, enchanting, fun and fancy-free you may very well find GOD HELP THE GIRL simply divine.
God Help the Girl • Written and Directed by Stuart Murdoch. • Cast: Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, Hannah Murray, Pierre Boulanger • Run Time: 111 minutes. Not rated.
[adrotate group=”8″]
