"This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang..." says one of the protagonists of the new Sally Potter film ("Why Men Cry", 2000), reading T. S. Elliot in search of some hope. In "Ginger & Rosa", hope is sought, as the great nuclear explosions that shook Japanese cities during World War II are just an announcement of the end of the world on two different scales: global and individual. The film follows the teenagers who give it its name: the redheaded Ginger (Elle Fanning) and the brunette Rosa (Alice Englert), who go through the dilemmas and natural discoveries of this phase while suffering the effects of an England that is still recovering from the Second World War. The two are born into close families and grow up as friends and accomplices in their experiences, they smoke their first cigarettes, make sexual discoveries, shrink their jeans in a bathtub and straighten their hair. Together, they go through challenging maturation processes while the world is about to end. Little by little, the international political crisis begins to mix with the crisis in the relationship between the two, who begin to find each other strange as anti-war movements and borderline tension explode on the outside.
Despite being very good friends, wearing the same or very similar costumes, and sharing problems (both have a troubled relationship with their mothers), their personalities are as different as the color of their hair. The redhead (Fanning) is eloquent and politically engaged, shaken by the political tension of the Cold War that develops with the threat of a nuclear conflict; while the brunette (Englert) is as romantic as her friend, but more impulsive and seeks personal stability, something her mother did not have, as a way of overcoming the conflicts of the time. The interaction between these different personalities is illustrated, from the first minutes, in a creative way in the photography that alternates a darker palette in the scenes with others in redder colors.
Director Sally Potter manages to work with a strong cast while conveying the effects of a global conflict and the sexual liberation of the 1960s on her characters: Christina Hendricks appears as the unhappy Natalie, Ginger's mother, always supported by the homosexual couple, both named Mark, played understatedly but interestingly by Oliver Platt and Timothy Spall. Annete Benning has a slightly smaller role than usual, being an American activist and a reference for the activist girl, while Alessandro Nivola plays the cynical intellectual Roland, who justifies dubious attitudes through the ideal of freedom.
The production presents its cast in good shape, but it is in the protagonists that we find its true brilliance. If Englert becomes a quiet and introspective Rosa, Fanning, at 14 years old, already shows impressive maturity when playing her conflicted and poetic character. The actress impresses with the nuances of her work which, little by little, shows an explosion of feelings and disappointments, whether in a tense argument with her best friend or when she cries while keeping a secret that seems to want to come out anyway through her trembling mouth at the climax. Of the movie. Potter closely follows all the young actress' reactions. The director abuses close-ups and very close-ups and sometimes gives the projection an uncomfortable novelistic tone. The choice to use the handheld camera in several moments gives it an intimate and personal character and emphasizes the main character's fragile situation. Redundant, she tries, unsuccessfully, to create rhymes that are quite obvious and dispensable, like that of a record that only ends its song in another scene in which a conversation ends with its points of view reaffirmed. Also responsible for the script, Potter develops a text with flaws and repetitive dialogues, in addition to making the narrative almost melodramatic, exaggerating in some points and boring in others, as in some poems or journalistic news that seem to want to reinforce the context by repetition.
Therefore, being a typical "coming-of-age", we follow important aspects that give character to the genre, as well as, in the dramatic spectrum, the issues specific to a youthful femininity that begins to establish itself in a more definitive way are developed. Concurrent with the rebelliousness of young age is the search for sexual freedom that characterizes the 1960s, and that hits close to home for these two characters, completely averse to English traditionalism. The film manages to place a lot of emphasis on this moment of transition in world culture, making us adapt to the context in which the film is inserted, whether through the exposure of dates or the constant mention of the geopolitical problems that permeate the plot.
Also good is the choice of a plot that is self-reflective throughout. The main characteristic of the feature film is the terms of "crisis" and "transition". It is there, in these terms, that it manifests itself in its thematic-stylistic aspect. One of the filmmaker's ways of giving shape to the subjectivity of the girls' turbulent moment of transition is by making them occupy a position of being at the center of a possible war and then, as things go wrong in international politics, we see the impact of the crisis reflected in themselves. , with bonds of friendship falling apart, dangerous discoveries, unfortunate adventures, family crises, etc. Structurally, the film confronts this characteristic of imminence and emergence. The War is real, but it is also an allegory for Ginger and Rosa's state of maturity and, on the contrary, ditto, the girls' situation is used to talk about the War. It's just that, at this age, everything is the end of the world - and this expression becomes ideal for understanding the internal conflicts that only this phase of growth is capable of generating, causing painful splits.
It is curious to observe the intense homosexual subtext exposed in "Ginger & Rosa". The two friends are literally in love with each other, but we are in a conservative pre-Woodstock everyday life, in which just thinking differently represents a revolution - taking action is still a step further. Unable to be together - most likely motivated by a simple lack of understanding of this possibility on their part - the neediest of them decides to invest in the other's father, leaving behind her childhood days and embracing herself as a woman and mother. The one who was abandoned then takes refuge in the enlightened gay couple, the rebellious American and the desire to make a difference to fight against something as big as it is unattainable. "We need to hand out leaflets against the atomic bomb," she says in a moment of desperation, as if a simple act like this could have such a drastic effect. But if standing by idly is no longer an option, what is left to be done?
The art direction reveals dark, faded colors in a sad and tense London that will still shine with the effects of the hippie movement a few years later. Using color combinations, relationships between characters are established, such as that of Ginger, always dressed in a complementary tone to her striking hair, and her comforting godparents, whose house decoration is carried out in complementary colors. The shocks experienced by Fanning throughout the narrative are revealed by the photography that blurs situations as if the character does not want to see what is happening, while the editing constructively uses resources such as jump cuts and more abrupt cuts in moments of more direct conflict. With his personality which, despite being mature, is young enough to emotionally assimilate certain facts, cutting part of them out of his perception.
"Ginger & Rosa" is about friendship and relationships inside and outside the family environment, about growing up and finding yourself, about knowing and facing the realities of the world, be it the atomic bomb or disappointment in those you love. We embarked with Ginger on a journey in which we realized that global conflicts can have the same proportion as internal ones, and there is no easy way to deal with either of them. However, there is a constant impression of something missing, of dramatic incompleteness. As in other productions, Sally Potter has failed to deepen her narratives, perhaps it would be more interesting to focus on a problem and explore it with patience and detail, extracting, from the minimum, the maximum. Thus, as in "Ginger & Rosa", although it is an extremely pertinent and originally thought-out argument, we are left with the idea of superficiality, when the filmmaker could go much further. I mean: the film does not fill the viewer's taste, but only their time.
Despite being very good friends, wearing the same or very similar costumes, and sharing problems (both have a troubled relationship with their mothers), their personalities are as different as the color of their hair. The redhead (Fanning) is eloquent and politically engaged, shaken by the political tension of the Cold War that develops with the threat of a nuclear conflict; while the brunette (Englert) is as romantic as her friend, but more impulsive and seeks personal stability, something her mother did not have, as a way of overcoming the conflicts of the time. The interaction between these different personalities is illustrated, from the first minutes, in a creative way in the photography that alternates a darker palette in the scenes with others in redder colors.
Director Sally Potter manages to work with a strong cast while conveying the effects of a global conflict and the sexual liberation of the 1960s on her characters: Christina Hendricks appears as the unhappy Natalie, Ginger's mother, always supported by the homosexual couple, both named Mark, played understatedly but interestingly by Oliver Platt and Timothy Spall. Annete Benning has a slightly smaller role than usual, being an American activist and a reference for the activist girl, while Alessandro Nivola plays the cynical intellectual Roland, who justifies dubious attitudes through the ideal of freedom.
The production presents its cast in good shape, but it is in the protagonists that we find its true brilliance. If Englert becomes a quiet and introspective Rosa, Fanning, at 14 years old, already shows impressive maturity when playing her conflicted and poetic character. The actress impresses with the nuances of her work which, little by little, shows an explosion of feelings and disappointments, whether in a tense argument with her best friend or when she cries while keeping a secret that seems to want to come out anyway through her trembling mouth at the climax. Of the movie. Potter closely follows all the young actress' reactions. The director abuses close-ups and very close-ups and sometimes gives the projection an uncomfortable novelistic tone. The choice to use the handheld camera in several moments gives it an intimate and personal character and emphasizes the main character's fragile situation. Redundant, she tries, unsuccessfully, to create rhymes that are quite obvious and dispensable, like that of a record that only ends its song in another scene in which a conversation ends with its points of view reaffirmed. Also responsible for the script, Potter develops a text with flaws and repetitive dialogues, in addition to making the narrative almost melodramatic, exaggerating in some points and boring in others, as in some poems or journalistic news that seem to want to reinforce the context by repetition.
Therefore, being a typical "coming-of-age", we follow important aspects that give character to the genre, as well as, in the dramatic spectrum, the issues specific to a youthful femininity that begins to establish itself in a more definitive way are developed. Concurrent with the rebelliousness of young age is the search for sexual freedom that characterizes the 1960s, and that hits close to home for these two characters, completely averse to English traditionalism. The film manages to place a lot of emphasis on this moment of transition in world culture, making us adapt to the context in which the film is inserted, whether through the exposure of dates or the constant mention of the geopolitical problems that permeate the plot.
Also good is the choice of a plot that is self-reflective throughout. The main characteristic of the feature film is the terms of "crisis" and "transition". It is there, in these terms, that it manifests itself in its thematic-stylistic aspect. One of the filmmaker's ways of giving shape to the subjectivity of the girls' turbulent moment of transition is by making them occupy a position of being at the center of a possible war and then, as things go wrong in international politics, we see the impact of the crisis reflected in themselves. , with bonds of friendship falling apart, dangerous discoveries, unfortunate adventures, family crises, etc. Structurally, the film confronts this characteristic of imminence and emergence. The War is real, but it is also an allegory for Ginger and Rosa's state of maturity and, on the contrary, ditto, the girls' situation is used to talk about the War. It's just that, at this age, everything is the end of the world - and this expression becomes ideal for understanding the internal conflicts that only this phase of growth is capable of generating, causing painful splits.
It is curious to observe the intense homosexual subtext exposed in "Ginger & Rosa". The two friends are literally in love with each other, but we are in a conservative pre-Woodstock everyday life, in which just thinking differently represents a revolution - taking action is still a step further. Unable to be together - most likely motivated by a simple lack of understanding of this possibility on their part - the neediest of them decides to invest in the other's father, leaving behind her childhood days and embracing herself as a woman and mother. The one who was abandoned then takes refuge in the enlightened gay couple, the rebellious American and the desire to make a difference to fight against something as big as it is unattainable. "We need to hand out leaflets against the atomic bomb," she says in a moment of desperation, as if a simple act like this could have such a drastic effect. But if standing by idly is no longer an option, what is left to be done?
The art direction reveals dark, faded colors in a sad and tense London that will still shine with the effects of the hippie movement a few years later. Using color combinations, relationships between characters are established, such as that of Ginger, always dressed in a complementary tone to her striking hair, and her comforting godparents, whose house decoration is carried out in complementary colors. The shocks experienced by Fanning throughout the narrative are revealed by the photography that blurs situations as if the character does not want to see what is happening, while the editing constructively uses resources such as jump cuts and more abrupt cuts in moments of more direct conflict. With his personality which, despite being mature, is young enough to emotionally assimilate certain facts, cutting part of them out of his perception.
"Ginger & Rosa" is about friendship and relationships inside and outside the family environment, about growing up and finding yourself, about knowing and facing the realities of the world, be it the atomic bomb or disappointment in those you love. We embarked with Ginger on a journey in which we realized that global conflicts can have the same proportion as internal ones, and there is no easy way to deal with either of them. However, there is a constant impression of something missing, of dramatic incompleteness. As in other productions, Sally Potter has failed to deepen her narratives, perhaps it would be more interesting to focus on a problem and explore it with patience and detail, extracting, from the minimum, the maximum. Thus, as in "Ginger & Rosa", although it is an extremely pertinent and originally thought-out argument, we are left with the idea of superficiality, when the filmmaker could go much further. I mean: the film does not fill the viewer's taste, but only their time.