Now Showing: The Girls

 

The Girls

Genre: Drama

Director: Jodie Foster
Writer: Rosie JoLove

Producer: HG Hansen

Based on the novel by Emma Cline

Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Jodie Foster, Domhnall Gleeson, Julia Garner, Dylan Sprayberry, Sophia Lillis, Emilia Jones, Sunny Suljic, DeWanda Wise, Antoine-Olivier Pilon, Ty Simpkins, Andrea Savage, Cole Hauser, Paddy Considine, Milly Alcock

Plot: "I looked up…" the narrator Evie Boyd reflects on the first moment she encountered the eponymous girls. She watched the three women walking through a park in her hometown and became immediately fascinated by them, even as other people in the park were disturbed by them.

In 2012, Evie (Jodie Foster) was a middle-aged woman staying in the vacation home of her friend Dan when she was startled in the night by the noise of strangers coming into the house. The noise immediately reminds her of the girls' break-in before committing the murders. Evie recalls some of the details of the gruesome murders carried out by the girls she saw in the park in 1969.

Evie investigates the noise and discovers two people in the kitchen: Julian (Sunny Suljic), Dan's son, and his girlfriend, Sasha (Sophia Lillis). They introduce themselves to each other, and Julian asks if Evie is his father's friend who used to be in a cult. Evie reluctantly admits that she is, and Julian excitedly tells Sasha some of the details of the murders. They go to their bedroom, and Evie can hear the young couple having noisy sex through the thin walls.

Evie's grandmother had been a famous Hollywood actress and her family lived off the money they inherited when she died. Evie's parents, Jean (Andrea Savage) and Carl (Paddy Considine), had divorced four months earlier after Carl had an affair with his assistant, Tamar (DeWanda Wise). Jean had become interested in numerous new-age activities such as astrology and vegetarianism and spent less time with Evie while she pursued her new life. In the summer of 1969, Evie spent most of her time with her best friend from school, Connie (Emilia Jones). After the summer, Evie was going to be sent to boarding school.

The day she first saw the girls, Evie watched as one of them flashed her nipple in a park full of people. The girls moved into an alley where they started searching through a dumpster for food before a man came out of a nearby building and chased them away. The girls ran towards a bus which had been painted black, and they got inside. Evie remembered this was the first time she saw Suzanne (Julia Garner), the girl who flashed her nipple.

Young Evie gets all dressed up to go to her friend Connie's house because she has a crush on her older brother Peter (Antoine-Olivier Pilon). One night when she was staying at Connie's, she went into Peter's bedroom after Connie had fallen asleep. Peter and Evie fooled around but were startled by a noise in the hallway, and Peter told Evie to go back to bed. Another day, Connie and Evie watched Peter and his friend playing on a pinball machine. The boys were discussing a porno they had seen at a movie theater, and Evie lied and said she had seen it too. When asked questions that proved that she had not seen the movie, Evie got mad and pushed over his motorcycle, damaging it. Later, Evie went to Connie's house and discovered that Peter's girlfriend, Pamela, was pregnant and that they'd run away together. Connie was angry with Evie. She thought Evie only wanted to be her friend because she had a crush on Peter. Connie said she had made friends with another girl that thought Evie was trashy. Connie told Evie to leave her alone.

Evie went back to her own house. Her mom wasn't home, so she got drunk and thought about how alone she felt. Evie went to the grocery store and saw Suzanne. The store owner told Suzanne she had to leave because she had stolen from him. Evie followed Suzanne into the parking lot and offered to steal toilet paper for Suzanne. Still, when Evie went back inside, she got scared and paid for it instead. Evie returned the toilet paper to Suzanne, who thanked her for her help. Suzanne told Evie that she lived with other people who moved around from one place to another but that they were low on money.

Evie's mom began dating again after her divorce. Evie remembered a party her dad had thrown at their house, during which one of the guests told Evie that her dad was having an affair with Tamar. Evie looked up to Tamar and was embarrassed by her parent's home and her mom's things when Tamar visited. Evie's mom introduced her to a married man she was dating named Frank (Cole Hauser), who was a gold miner in Mexico. Jean invited Frank to dinner, and Evie asked him about his wife. Frank was rude to Evie while Jean was out of the room. Evie thought her mom had overheard Frank being unkind and expected her to be angry with Frank, but she was angry with Evie instead.

The following morning, Jean criticized Evie for being rude to Frank. They fought, and Jean told Evie to get out. Evie took her bicycle and rode away from the house until the chain on the bike broke. Evie sat on the side of the road trying to fix her bike when a black bus pulled over. A girl, Donna (Milly Alcock), got off the bus and offered to help Evie fix her bicycle. Suzanne got off the bus too. Donna invited Evie to join them for a solstice party. Suzanne said she was too young, but Evie lied and told them she wasn't. Evie got on the bus with her bike.

On the bus, Evie was introduced to the other girls, who were excited to meet her. Evie noticed that Suzanne didn't seem pleased that she was there. The girls told Evie about their group leader, a charismatic man named Russell (Domhnall Gleeson). They told Evie about a famous musician named Mitch (Dylan Sprayberry) who came to stay with them at the ranch where they lived. Evie got the impression that they all had sex with him. Evie recalls the relationship between Mitch and Russell, which she only learned later: Mitch was a successful musician. He was impressed by Russell's charismatic speeches about peace and love. Mitch brought them food and other supplies to the ranch, and Russell and the others believed that Russell would get a record deal through Mitch.

Evie recalled that nothing happened that day on the bus to make her suspect any of the events that would occur later. Donna asked if she had heard anything about Russell, and she said no. Evie attended the solstice party at the ranch. She met Russell, who took her into a trailer and coerced her into giving him oral sex.

In 2012, Evie woke up in the vacation home and heard a car leaving the garage. She assumes that Julian and Sasha have left, so she's surprised when Sasha comes out of the bedroom. Evie tells Sasha that Julian has gone, and Sasha pretends that she already knows he's gone since Julian's going north to buy drugs.

Sasha and Evie spend most of the day in separate rooms, and Evie can hear music coming from Sasha's laptop. Later, they make a fire together outside, and Sasha asks Evie about the cult she belongs to. Evie tells Sasha that Evie didn't kill anyone. But sometimes, Evie thinks she would've been capable of doing it, that it was just an accident, and that she wasn't involved in the murders. Evie realizes that Sasha has been researching the group's crimes online. Sasha tells Evie that Julian was kicked out of college because he poisoned a professor's pet dog. Sasha suggests that they go to a nearby bar. They meet a man in the bar, and Sasha tells him that Evie is her mother before kissing her on the lips. The man's disgusted and fascinated at the same time.

The next scene took place in 1969. Evie had been home for a week since the solstice party. She had been stealing money from her mother to give to Suzanne and the others at the ranch. Evie rode her bike to the ranch to give Suzanne all the money she had collected. Suzanne and Russell were pleased with Evie for bringing them so much money. Evie began to spend more time at the ranch, doing chores, helping out, and often staying overnight in Suzanne's bed. Evie continued to have sexual encounters with Russell. When he visited the ranch, Evie was introduced to Mitch Lewis, the famous musician. Evie's mother asked her if she ever went near the ranch, and she lied and told her that she didn't know anyone there.

Russell complained that Mitch was late to meet him and that they hadn't seen him on the ranch in a long time. Russell sent Suzanne and Evie to go home with Mitch. They drank a lot of alcohol and took cocaine. Mitch and Suzanne had sex. While she waited for them, Evie remembered meeting the caretaker who accidentally opened the door while she was in the bathroom. Later, Suzanne convinces Evie by threatening to tell Russell about Evie & Mitch. Defeated, Evie has Suzanne lead her into Mitch's bedroom. Despite her disinterest, Mitch has sex with Evie. Then as an act of jealousy & power, Suzanne seduces Evie into sex, and Mitch watches. Mitch has sex with Evie & Suzanne again. Returning to the ranch, Evie was angry with Suzanne about what had happened. Confused, Suzanne asks what's bugging Evie. Evie tries to argue, but Suzanne ultimately acts innocent.

The following day, Frank told Evie that he knew she had been stealing money from her mom and that he wouldn't tell her about it if she promised to stop. Frank told her to go check out a carnival in town and her mom agreed it was a good idea. At the carnival, Evie bumped into her school friend Connie who was there with another girl. The girls taunted Evie and threw a can of soda at her. Jean gets angry at Evie. Evie decided to run back to the ranch.

After Suzanne convinces it'll be fun, Evie, Suzanne, and Donna break into the Dutton house next to Evie's house. While they were there, Mrs. Dutton came home. The girls tried to escape the house without being seen, but Mrs. Dutton saw Evie.

Back in 2012, Evie was still staying at Dan's vacation house. Julian returns from his trip with a drug dealer. Julian and Sasha ask Evie to eat with them. They drink some wine, and all get drunk. Evie clears up after dinner. Julian goats Sasha into showing her breasts, despite Evie's attempts to convince her that she doesn't have to do it. Julian tells Evie that Evie shouldn't lecture them for their behavior because Evie killed someone. Evie denies this, but Julian counters that she told Sasha she could've done it. Evie turns to walk away, clenching her fingers.

In 1969, Mrs. Dutton caught Evie trying to escape her house, but Donna and Suzanne got away. Evie's mom discovered that she hadn't been staying at Connie's house all summer, as she had assumed, and she was angry with her for breaking into Mrs. Dutton's house. Evie was sent away to stay with her dad and his girlfriend Tamar in Palo Alto. Tamar and Evie's father, Carl, was having problems. Evie quickly concluded that Tamar would leave him. Despite this, Evie liked Tamar, who was kind to her. After two weeks, Evie ran away from her father's apartment and started hitching her way back to the ranch. At Berkeley, she met a college student named Tom (Ty Simpkins), who agreed to drive her the rest of the way to the ranch. Evie told Tom about Russell and the record deal he would get through Mitch. Tom seemed fascinated by the ranch idea, so Evie invited him to come with her when they arrived.

Tom joined the girls on the ranch for a few beers, but Russell wasn't there. The girls told Evie that Mitch was a traitor and that he had betrayed Russell. Evie would later learn that things had deteriorated at the ranch since she had left. Mitch had told Russell that he wouldn't be getting a record deal, and Russell was furious. While talking, Tom panicked when he noticed one of the minor children who lived on the ranch jump into the swimming pool. Tom started running and yelling, fearing the child might drown, before pulling the child out of the water. The others criticized him for interfering and said the child was never in danger. Tom told Evie that the ranch was a horrible place and offered to take her back, but she refused.

Russell returned to the ranch later that night. Evie later learned that he had been harassing Mitch for several weeks. That night, although Evie witnesses the event, Russell tells Suzanne to take others to Mitch's house to teach him a lesson. The next day, Evie realized that Suzanne and others were going somewhere. Evie asked Suzanne to let her come with them, and Suzanne reluctantly agreed. Suzanne told Evie to change into dark clothes. Evie recalls the car ride to Mitch's house on the night that the murders took place. Evie reached out to hold Suzanne's hand, but Suzanne pulled away violently. Suzanne becomes suddenly enraged with her calling her a sheltered little girl. Though Evie tries to apologize, Suzanne demands they pull over the car. Suzanne made Evie get out of the car, and they left her alone on the roadside. In the narration, Evie recounted the rumors circulating on the news and amongst the general public in the immediate aftermath of the multiple murders at Mitch's house that night.

After she had been left on the roadside by Suzanne and the others, Evie called Tamar, who came to pick her up. Tamar took Evie back to her father's apartment. The next day, Evie discovered the murders at Mitch's house while watching the news. We suddenly hear the details of the night of the murders through the news. Mitch hadn't been home that night, but the group had rounded up the people staying there: the caretaker, his girlfriend, and Mitch's ex-girlfriend with her young son. The deaths, each one, were more graphic than the last.

The murders remained unsolved for several weeks, during which time Evie struggled to keep her knowledge of events to herself. Her father and Tamar installed extra locks in the apartment because everyone was terrified by the random nature of such a brutal crime. Evie recalls more events from the summer of 1969. At the end of the summer, the murders still unsolved, Evie moved to her new boarding school. She quickly made friends with her roommate and settled into her new life. One day, someone told Evie that her sister had come to visit her. Evie went outside and saw Suzanne. Suzanne demanded to see Evie's room, so We took her inside to show her. Suzanne asked Evie if she liked it there, and she said yes. Suzanne said she had something to show her, and they went outside, where Evie saw the black bus waiting for Suzanne. Suzanne told Evie that they were going to the desert for a while. She said that Russell wasn't angry with Evie and that he knew she wouldn't tell anyone anything about the murders. Suzanne and the others left.

Evie only ever saw them again in news reports. They were all arrested in the desert several weeks after one of the girls had boasted about the crimes while in prison for using a stolen credit card. They all were put on trial, where they became infamous. After the whole trial was over, Suzanne would be the only one who was redeemed after her testimony. Suzanna became a symbol of cult victims & survival. Russell was sent to jail made to look like the boogeyman though he still denies any allegations.

In 2012, Evie read a postcard of Palo Alto she got from Suzanna. Only a tiny drop of blood for the message. Evie is interrupted by sounds from Sasha's bedroom. Sasha & Julian are gonna hit the road, which Evie tries to stop. Sasha lashes out, remarking Evie can't use her life to correct Evie's bad choices. In a last fit, Evie monologues on how Evie's felt alone since birth and how easy it is to use someone to find value. When someone uses it for themselves, it doesn't feel any different. The cure is noticing till it's too late. Julian walks in, waiting on Sasha. Sasha remarks that she will be for love, not a killer cult. After they leave, Evie remarks they'd be surprised how likely both relate to one another.

Evie walked alone along the beach back towards the house. She sees a man coming toward her. Evie takes out a steak knife. The closer he gets, the tighter she grips. Evie wonders if she can finally do it. When the man reaches her, she attacks him. We see Evie stabbing him bloody w/ each stab, gaining aggression. We hear Suzanne's & Russell's voices encouraging her. Suddenly, the man smiles, jogging by. Evie stops in her tracks, dropping the knife. Her breath stifles as she breaks down crying. Without seeing her face, Suzanne's arms comfort her. Soon each wave covers Evie's crying.