Based on the novel by Caitlin Moran, How To Build A Girl is an excellent 2019 coming-of-age story.
Set in Wolverhampton in the 1990s, Beanie Feldstein takes the lead as sixteen year old Johanna Morrigan. Living in a working class family with wannabe rockstar dad, Johanna dreams of an escape from her tormented, excitement-less life. Finding comfort and joy in literature and dreams of romantic figures and meeting her own Mr Darcy, Johanna couldn’t be more different from those around her, including her own family. Despite her cooler brother’s attempts, and her father’s despair, our heroine is totally unfamiliar with the rock lifestyle, not understanding how it can be such a thrill.
Johanna gets the chance of a lifetime after winning a writing competition, allowing her to read her poem aloud on live television. Yet despite her excitement, she is overcome with nerves, embarrassing herself completely and spilling her family secrets, thus plunging her household into deeper economic despair. In an attempt to make it up to her family, Johanna decides to become a person of financial support, looking in the most unlikely place; a London music paper. In a wild turn of events, Johanna becomes a rock critic, adopting a confident and bold new persona, Dolly Wilde.
Plummeted into the world of rock, Johanna falls in love with this new lifestyle. She’s popular, she’s cool, she’s rich. She’s more confident than she’s ever been. But as her name gets bigger and bigger, Johanna begins to lose herself completely. She turns on her family, and the Dublin singer she fell in love with, deciding to stick with her coworkers. Only it turns out, they’ve been taking advantage of her, mocking her the entire time she’s worked with them. Distraught and totally lost within herself, Johanna returns home only to, understandably, be given the cold shoulder by her family. Not knowing where to turn or what to do, Johanna attempts to end it all, landing herself in the hospital. It is there that she finally rekindles with her family, vowing to never let fame get to her head again.
Once out of hospital, Johanna begins to try to find herself once more, this time, landing on what she believes is the right version of herself. Fortunately, her brilliant writing style is not lost, and she begins writing for her brothers magazine, as well as sending an article about her truth to a different publisher. This manages to take her down the right track, and things begin looking up for young Johanna.
We aren’t quite offered the ending we were hoping for, at least in my case, but the film offers hope and it’s perfect because it’s her ending. She’s happy, and she’s confident without having to wear a mask or lose her humanity. It’s a perfect ending. But it isn’t quite finished. As previously mentioned, How To Build A Girl is based off a novel with the same name, and fortunately, Moran wrote a sequel, and is planning to write a third. Now, I haven’t read the books yet but I cannot wait to delve deeper into the life of Johanna Morrigan.
How To Build A Girl is a truly magnificent movie with an impeccable cast and a beautiful soundtrack. Feldstein portrayed Johanna wonderfully, even managing to pull off the Wolverhampton accent. The cast were generally unknown to me, but there were some brilliant cameos of big name stars, including Chris O’Dowd, Michael Sheen, Jameela Jamil, Emma Thompson and Lily Allen - whose brother starred in the film as the wonderful Dublin singer, and love interest, John Kite.
How To Build A Girl deals with self-confidence, bullying, poverty, child grooming, re-invention, art, the importance of the truth, your truth, exploitation, finding yourself, and first love. You’d think this all felt packed in and too much for a 1 hour and 42 minutes long film, but it is so intricately and beautifully done, that it works so well. What begins as a somewhat lighthearted film delves a little darker once it becomes clear that Johanna is being exploited and groomed, but it still doesn’t lose the humour and the brilliance of the film, particularly when our young protagonist starts taking her life back.
The film is frustrating, face-palm worthy and sometimes downright creepy, and it definitely made me cringe with discomfort a few times. But it’s also funny, sweet, heartwarming and so inspiring. Growing up, I could have really used this film. It would have helped me not feel pressured to find a label or decide who I was at a young age, instead comforting me that labels can change, and that you can change as you grow up, and that that’s okay. In fact, it’s more than okay, because it’s human. Whilst I can’t help but be disappointed that I never had this film as a young teen, I am so glad that it’s out here now, as I absolutely think it’s going to help a lot of young people.
How To Build A Girl seems like your average, run of the mill coming-of-age comedy. The ones that mean well, but end up falling a little flat. But it’s so much more. It’s about finding yourself, and it's going to help so many people to accept themselves, flaws and all.
TW: grooming, exploitation, self-harm