Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Fernanda Tovar
Starring: Rocio Guzman, Darana Alvarez, Tatsumi Milori, Tomás García-Agraz, Mónica del Carmen
Despite its title and harrowing subject matter, writer/director Fernanda Tovar's debut feature Sad Girlz is an ultimately uplifting film about friendship that manages to send you out with a warm glow when the credits roll. It deals with sexual assault, but from a very specific perspective of teenagers living in a Catholic society where such things are not only not spoken of, but brushed under the carpet.
16-year-olds Maestra (Rocio Guzmán) and Paula (Darana Álvarez) are inseparable BFFs in Mexico City. Keen swimmers, they hope to make it onto their school team for a trip to Brazil to take part in a competitive tournament. Paula is also determined to lose her virginity (Maestra claims to be well experienced in that department, but we suspect this is merely teenage bravado), and she has set her sights on Daniel (Lucio Lemus), a boy from her swim team.
At a party, Maestra encourages Daniel to pursue Paula, and she later sees the two of them disappear into a bathroom together. Afterwards Maestra is keen to hear all abut Paula's experience, but Paula doesn't want to discuss it. Over the coming days it becomes clear that Paula was a victim of sexual assault, even if she doesn't fully understand it herself.
Sad Girlz paints a damning picture of a society where teenagers are so badly informed on matters of sex and consent that they may not even understand when they've been victimised, or even when they've been the aggressor. Clueless to the harm he has caused, Daniel continues to pursue Paula, and is genuinely baffled as to why she won't answer his calls and texts. There is a shocking scene in which, feeling they can't speak with any humans on the matter, Paula and Maestra ask ChatGPT if what happened to the former counts as rape. The answer is a definitive yes, but the simplistic advice AI gives simply doesn't apply somewhere like Mexico. The girls know better than to inform the police, and Paula feels she can't even tell her father out of fear that he will never look at her the same way again. There is a sense that Paula was hoping for a different answer from the bot, one that might allow her to move on more easily.
Maestra, on the other hand, is determined to see justice served for her friend. She gets in an altercation with Daniel at school that threatens her place on the swim team. When she tries to tell her coach of Daniel's crime, she is warned not to cause trouble and sent packing. This causes a rift between Maestra and Paula, with the latter simply resigning herself to her victimhood and unappreciative of the ripples Maestra's actions are causing.
Tovar displays a commanding skill in directing her young leads, coaxing two performances from Guzmán and Álvarez that convince us we're watching two teenagers who have been lifelong friends. We enter scenes halfway through, or sometimes just as they're ending, which creates the impression that we're catching up with this relationship with its own shared history and secret language. The scene in which Paula finally details what happened that night with Daniel is a striking combination of directing and performance. Rather than having Paula open up when she and her friend are alone, Tovar stages this pivotal scene during a dance class, Paula and Maestra attempting to hide their emotions from the oblivious instructor.
Sad Girlz doesn't shy away from the grim reality of Paula's predicament and the lack of justice. But it also finds love in a hopeless place, and it serves as an important reminder that life can go on in the aftermath of atrocity. Their society may be rooted against them, but Paula and Maestra have each other.
