FILM REVIEW: The Diary of a Teenage Girl

THIS film may sound cute and fluffy but it has some seriously dark undertones that are wrapped up in a young girl’s coming-of-age story.

Starring Kristen Wiig, Bel Powley

Director: Marielle Heller

102 minutes

Star rating: **** (out of five).

It isn’t the high school romance it may sound like, but instead one that tells the story of sexual abuse and grooming.

The film is based on the novel of the same name by Phoebe Gloeckner and follows Minnie, a 15-year-old aspiring cartoonist living in 1970s San Francisco.

She lives with her laid-back bohemian mum Charlotte, played by the brilliant Bridesmaids star Kristen Wiig, little sister Gretal, and her mum’s layabout boyfriend Monroe (Alexander Skarsgard).

The handsome and charming Monroe first casually-inappropriately touches Minnie (Bel Powley) one night when they are alone watching the television.

Their relationship escalates when Charlottle tells Monroe she is too busy to go out and he should take her daughter instead.

After some childish tomfoolery at the bar Minnie tells her mother’s boyfriend she wants to have sex with him and he takes her back to his apartment.

This turns into a regular occurrence with Minnie believing they are in a relationship and that Monroe loves her.

Minnie considers herself fat and unattractive and is flattered by the attention the 35-year-old Monroe gives her.

Powley and Skarsgard deliver standout performances - Minnie, as her name suggests, the petite teenager who unknowingly has her childhood robbed, and Skarsgard as the subtly manipulative abuser.

Some scenes are graphic and are, rightly so, quite hard to watch as these topics shouldn’t be sugar-coated.

As hard-hitting as it is there are incidental moments of comedy, sometimes due to Minnie’s naivety, and the live action is cut with animation to offer an insight into the mind of a talented young woman.

Charlotte eventually finds out about the relationship but fails to recognise that her daughter is a victim — she is more concerned about the dent to her own ego.

Minnie is left bottling her emotions up and Monroe gets off Scot free.

It may have been set decades ago but the issues are sadly, still so relevant today.

It’s an interesting, sometimes uncomfortable, look at how an older man can derail a young girl’s life and get away with it.

But more telling is how easily it gets brushed under the carpet.