AtaraxiaWhere to begin? Miller’s Girl is a film directed by Jade Bartlett. It tells the story of Cairo Sweet and her teacher, Jonathan Miller. At least, that’s what the trailer wants us to believe.
Miller’s Girl is a story of vengeance, attraction, and, above all, passion. Cairo Sweet, 18, lives somewhere in the depths of Tennessee. She has never left her hometown and lives alone in the family home that her parents (who are always traveling) left her. Cairo dreams of only one thing: to leave. After high school, she decides to apply to Yale University. But there’s one problem with her application: she needs to write about her greatest accomplishment. Cairo has no idea. Being the top of her class? Useless, in her view, even boring. Everything else? Equally boring. She feels that, having never left her town, she hasn’t accomplished anything. Then comes a twisted idea her best friend suggests: dating her literature teacher is anything but boring.
Cairo then embarks on a dangerous game that her teacher, Jonathan Miller, will struggle to avoid. In search of fame, Jonathan is a cursed writer. After the release of his first book, he didn’t achieve the glory he had hoped for, and now he teaches literature. His wife, Beatrice, is unable to devote time to their relationship and spends every minute of her day working and drinking. She’s beautiful, strong, and knows it, so much so that she treats Jonathan terribly most of the time. But Cairo is intelligent. She reads a lot, and, importantly, she has read Jonathan’s book. Studious and kind, a relationship begins to form between them. Teetering on the edge of ethics and morality, they start a passionate, physical relationship without truly crossing the line. That is, until one day, in a torrential downpour, they kiss.
Cairo then decides, for her semester paper, to write her dissertation referencing Henry Miller. Using Miller’s style, she describes moments of intimacy between herself and her teacher. When Jonathan receives the paper, he gets caught up in the passion conveyed through her words but rejects it, asking Cairo to start over with a completely different topic. Cairo, hurt, refuses to change her dissertation and submits it directly into the principal’s inbox, sparking an investigation into their relationship.
But Cairo is not just a simple teenager craving affection. She is smart, thoughtful, and particularly cunning. She makes sure she cannot be contradicted by her best friend (who doesn’t want to accuse the teacher of anything), and she is even willing to involve another teacher, just in case. All of this is done with one goal in mind: to achieve her greatest accomplishment.
Now, what can be said about this film? I’ve read the reviews that are circulating—some are excellent, others very negative. Here’s what I think. The story itself isn’t too different from many others: a teacher-student relationship, without much actual sex between the two. However, the film wants to be steamy, with everything conveyed through suggestion and innuendo. What makes Miller’s Girl extraordinary is its aesthetics. Watching this film, you will be captivated by the beauty of the shots, some of the scenes—everything in the way it’s made is absolutely incredible.
More specifically, Cairo Sweet reminds me of a devilish genius. But Jenna Ortega makes her performance absolutely fascinating. The way she looks, moves—everything becomes subtle and languid. She becomes sensual to the highest degree while maintaining a hint of Machiavellianism. And yet, she doesn’t hide anything from her best friend, Winnie, from the very beginning.
Winnie, played by Gideon Aldon, is bisexual, and more than that, she is in love with Cairo, which she does not hide. She also wants to lose her virginity to her sports teacher, Boris Fillmore, and does everything she can to catch his attention. But Winnie is naïve, and she lets Cairo lead her around by the nose, even though Cairo makes it seem like the opposite at first.
The aesthetic touches in this film are absolutely incredible—the 1960s rotary phone, the long shots of a spider or a beetle, the play of colors or time: fog, rain, sunshine. Everything in this film is crafted for extreme visual pleasure. Each scene is a feast for the eyes, an offering to your intellect, and a work of art.
From the very start, Cairo is presented as the somewhat antisocial, studious, and naïve student. But quickly, she flips the power dynamics of the film. For example, Winnie initially presents herself as the more open, more wild one, in stark contrast to Cairo’s character. We’re even led to believe that Cairo is following Winnie, when in fact, Cairo quickly takes control of the situation and leads Winnie by the hand.
Similarly, with Jonathan—when Jonathan rejects Cairo’s dissertation, he is on the platform, towering over her in height, and enters the room completely ignoring Cairo. Refusing explanations, she ends up on the same platform as him. And as if struck by a sudden realization, she begins to reverse the power dynamic between them. Her sadness turns to hatred, her face twists with rage, and she successfully takes the lead, asserting herself through both words and presence. She ends up above him—she on the platform, him below, having to look up to see her.
A criticism that often comes up is the discomfort felt by viewers. In my opinion, this film is meant to be uncomfortable. A fifty-something-year-old professor in an unconventional relationship with his 18-year-old student. This is not a film meant to be erotic, but rather to provoke certain questions.
The physical difference between the two lead actors also comes up a lot. That’s understandable. Even I, before seeing the film, was skeptical about a teacher-student relationship with Jenna Ortega (Wednesday) and Martin Freeman (Sherlock) on the poster. However, it’s precisely this difference that makes the film work. The two actors play their respective roles wonderfully, and it works! It’s important to understand that this film is not meant to be merely entertaining. There are plenty of other films out there for that if that’s what you’re looking for. The relationship in Miller’s Girl is meant to explore an aspect that is often overlooked. This film answers the standards of art-house cinema, not the typical Hollywood film that many might expect. It offers a reflection on art, beauty, and intellect that goes beyond the script and works thanks to the aesthetics of the film and the actors’ contrast.
Miller’s Girl is an artwork, not a piece of entertainment. The expectation of this film should not be the same as when you watch any other movie. But if you love art, beauty, vengeance, 1960s vibes, or anything related to that, you should watch this film—it will leave you spellbound.
