Luckiest Girl Alive
The opening sequence of “Luckiest Girl Alive” have our protagonist, Ani (played by Mila Kunis), being fitted for an engagement ring. An interesting turn, as that type of interaction signifies the end of the movie, where the hero(ine) “couples up.”
But here, it’s shown as exposition, and in a somewhat dark fashion. On the surface, Ani appears to be happy. She writes for a women’s magazine and is getting engaged to Luke, a wealthy, good-looking, decent guy. But we learn about her demons, namely that she was a survivor of a school shooting some fifteen years earlier and she’s being interviewed for a documentary about the shooting.
On a more current level, she’s looking to follow her boss to the New York Times Magazine, musing that she’s looking for something more than her current gig of writing about “5,000 Ways to Give a Blow Job.” Luke, in a departure from this kind of character, is a “good guy,” supportive of Ani’s passion for writing.
We learn more about Ani’s past when we see flashbacks of her entry as a “scholarship student” in an elite private school, where she falls in with the popular clique. She is then assaulted by a few of the guys in that clique. Subsequently, a pair of outcasts shoots up the school, killing two of those guys and paralyzing the other, Dean, who Ani has described as “untouchable.”
A twist occurs when it’s revealed Dean is being interviewed for the documentary, and in the flashback, Dean lied to authorities that Ani was in on planning the shooting. The truth is, one of the shooters, who knew about the rape, had given Ani the opportunity to kill him; instead, she stabbed the shooter to protect her classmates. Of course, Ani isn’t charged, but collective suspicion has left her an outcast during her remaining years at the school.
Ani gets her catharsis when she videotapes a conversation with an adult Dean, now in a wheelchair and working fervently as a gun control activist. While he seems to have reformed, he threatens that if Ani exposes the rape, he’ll continue to lie that Ani was in on the shooting. As a result, Ani publishes an essay doing just that.
I read a review that decried the film for pitting gun violence and sexual assault against each other. I don’t disagree with the review, but I do like the path Ani is on, which is a pro-single one. While Luke would probably be an ideal mate for someone who wants to be coupled, that life isn’t for Ani. A flashback to a class trip in New York City shows Ani being enamored with a professional woman she sees; said woman is talking business on a cell phone. This is Ani’s role model.
Ani wasn’t meant to be second fiddle to a financial scion, working on an MFA and writing in her spare time, like so many housewives do. She leaves Luke to be the writer of her own life. And she starts by helping fellow rape survivors through her writing. As an activist who communicates not by going to protests, but through writing, I can relate on that level. I hope fellow singletons can too.
But here, it’s shown as exposition, and in a somewhat dark fashion. On the surface, Ani appears to be happy. She writes for a women’s magazine and is getting engaged to Luke, a wealthy, good-looking, decent guy. But we learn about her demons, namely that she was a survivor of a school shooting some fifteen years earlier and she’s being interviewed for a documentary about the shooting.
On a more current level, she’s looking to follow her boss to the New York Times Magazine, musing that she’s looking for something more than her current gig of writing about “5,000 Ways to Give a Blow Job.” Luke, in a departure from this kind of character, is a “good guy,” supportive of Ani’s passion for writing.
We learn more about Ani’s past when we see flashbacks of her entry as a “scholarship student” in an elite private school, where she falls in with the popular clique. She is then assaulted by a few of the guys in that clique. Subsequently, a pair of outcasts shoots up the school, killing two of those guys and paralyzing the other, Dean, who Ani has described as “untouchable.”
A twist occurs when it’s revealed Dean is being interviewed for the documentary, and in the flashback, Dean lied to authorities that Ani was in on planning the shooting. The truth is, one of the shooters, who knew about the rape, had given Ani the opportunity to kill him; instead, she stabbed the shooter to protect her classmates. Of course, Ani isn’t charged, but collective suspicion has left her an outcast during her remaining years at the school.
Ani gets her catharsis when she videotapes a conversation with an adult Dean, now in a wheelchair and working fervently as a gun control activist. While he seems to have reformed, he threatens that if Ani exposes the rape, he’ll continue to lie that Ani was in on the shooting. As a result, Ani publishes an essay doing just that.
I read a review that decried the film for pitting gun violence and sexual assault against each other. I don’t disagree with the review, but I do like the path Ani is on, which is a pro-single one. While Luke would probably be an ideal mate for someone who wants to be coupled, that life isn’t for Ani. A flashback to a class trip in New York City shows Ani being enamored with a professional woman she sees; said woman is talking business on a cell phone. This is Ani’s role model.
Ani wasn’t meant to be second fiddle to a financial scion, working on an MFA and writing in her spare time, like so many housewives do. She leaves Luke to be the writer of her own life. And she starts by helping fellow rape survivors through her writing. As an activist who communicates not by going to protests, but through writing, I can relate on that level. I hope fellow singletons can too.
