The Girl in the Book (2015)

A different way of telling a story

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Why was Alice supposed to be able to stop Milan touching her when he tried to grope her breasts but was unable to stop him when he said that he wanted to make her come? The contradiction was utterly stupid and pathetic and completely ruined the film.Why did Milan, a middle-aged man go up to Alice, a sixteen year old girl and say "I want to make you come.", and start stroking her between her legs whilst ordering her in a cold tone of voice to keep her eyes open?Was it because he wanted to treat her with love and affection and make her feel happy, excited, worthwhile, wanted and uplifted or because he wanted to treat her with contempt and make her feel unhappy, shocked, worthless, debased and degraded?Why would an adult male want to treat a female with contempt and make her feel unhappy, shocked, worthless, debased and degraded?Would it be because he felt worthless, debased and degraded himself at the thought that whereas he found her extremely desirable and attractive she didn't return the compliment, and that, as a result, he felt overwhelmed with humiliation, envy and resentment?

Emily VanCamp is excellent here starring as Alice, a self-destructive young woman working as an editor for a book publisher, in NYC. Her boss (Jordan Lage) discounts her abilities, and really just wants her to be his personal secretary. Her father (Michael Cristofer), a literary agent. is an overbearing and boorish slimeball. However, when Alice's boss wants her to manage the re-release of an acclaimed best seller, some 15 years before, as an e-book, it will rekindle horrific and painful memories for her that occurred at that time. Often told through flashbacks, we see 16-year-old Alice being manipulated and sexually abused by the book's author Milan Daneker. The superb actor Michael Nyqvist is perfectly cast as Milan, and is so believable and despicable you just want to reach through the screen and give him a smack.As a result of all this, Alice has such a poor self-image that she has become promiscuous, with her life filled with one-night stands from bar pick-ups. The crucial question, and the crux of the movie will be whether once she meets a nice guy and solid citizen (David Call), can she finally have a loving and meaningful relationship, or will she revert to her old ways?In supporting roles, I thought Ali Ahn did a fine job as Sadie, Alice's best friend, and Ana Mulvoy-Ten was most solid as young Alice. The movie was written and directed by Marya Cohn, who's making her feature film debut here, and I read the film is semi-autobiographical. I would be interested in seeing what else Cohn brings to the screen.In summary, as mentioned, this is not an easy film to view, but, overall, I came down on the positive side after seeing its rather uplifting final segments.

It's a basic story about a much older many who commits statutory rape on a teenage girl when he seduces her. I saw a movie earlier this year called Return to Sender which I thought did a good job explaining the lasting effects of rape and I think this movie does the same thing as the lead character grows up to become a woman whose relationships with men are clearly lead but this one particular moment, and it's not healthy. Making the situation worse is the the man who did this to her used the experience to write his most successful novel.I was expecting more of a odd love story of forbidden romance going into the film, like a romantic comedy version of the first season of Californication, which has a similar but different plot. What it is in reality is a serious look about a girl who reached out to a stranger because her dad was too into his self to see her, and ended up becoming this creepy man's prey.From my perspective, I saw a well done look at the profile of a woman effected by sexual abuse and how she deals with it. Well done.

An interesting and believable story taken out from the everyday life. It presents a young woman with a weak character whose life is a mess. She seems to be stressed constantly and not being able to go on with her life because of a deep emotional trauma during childhood.The film explores the emotional aspect of the human character and how getting stuck in the past leads to absence of future. Alice is a synonym of an introvert. Despite her hurried life she makes no progress and seems to be standing still. She works hard but she's not successful. She knows what she wants from life but she doesn't do anything to get it. She has built a wall around herself to shield her from the outside world because she's afraid of it.Aside from the actors love as a two-faced feeling also plays a role in this film. Its first act is to disappoint to a level that everything after that is stereotyped as deceitful and untrustworthy. Then it transitions with the main character to show its other face that can tear down the walls someone intentionally built to prevent the future to come in.This film shows the wonderful things that can happen when you open your mind, stop existing in the past and start living today for the future.