Violet is a shy teenager who dreams of escaping her small town and pursuing her passion to sing. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a local singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition. Driven by a pop-fueled soundtrack, Teen Spirit is a visceral and stylish spin on the Cinderella story.
This is the kind of movie that speaks to a very specific audience. You can tell that by its use of pop anthems, flashy music-video visuals, and a commoner-turned-into-a-princess storyline. This movie focuses its story heavily on the strength of Elle Fanning’s singing ability and yes, she actually sang all those songs and she actually sang all those songs on set, during takes. I consider this movie more a feat of athleticism than one of innocuous storytelling.
Elle Fanning plays Violet Volanski, the daughter of a Polish woman, living on a farm on the Isle of Wight. She’s introduced as your prototypical shy girl: hiding in the corner at parties, but singing her heart out to her horse. We follow her trajectory as she enters an American Idol-esque competition as a last-ditch effort to kick start a singing career and save her family’s indebted farm. Along the way she enlists Vlad (Zlatko Buric), a retired Russian opera singer, to help coach her way to the top. She’ll encounter devilish temptation, broken-hearted anguish, and emotional maturity all while singing covers of infamous pop/techno ballads.
Elle Fanning’s voice rocks, hardcore. The breathy quality of her practiced vocal breathes new life into infamous songs originally by artists like Robyn, Sigrid, Annie Lennox, and Ellie Goulding. These masterful renditions get the full treatment. Instead of standard musical performances, we get full on music videos and in that sense, I loved the sugar-coated cinematography inherent to the movie. Elle practically soaks in neon tones, whether she’s taking a horse to graze or taking shots in the club. Say what you will but this movie took full advantage of its musical moments to craft something a bit like a 90-minute music video (even suggesting vague storylines and masterful editing techniques inherent to a music video). This is what gives this movie its style and why I say it’s a pop anthem very young girls are going to ADORE.
I am a twenty-something man so my appreciation for this movie does not extend as far as your average audience member but it speaks to this film’s heart that the thirteen-year-old girl next to me left the theater saying she felt excited by the movie. I noted the underdeveloped storylines at play, the heavy aesthetic, and the tonally discordant ending, but I suppose none of that matters if Elle’s singing is THAT good. For instance, Violet’s mother disapproves of her daughter’s singing and there’s some mention of her father (whose presence is intentionally absent) but her mother sort of turns a corner about the whole thing. Violet develops a quasi-relationship with bandmate Luke (Archie Madekwe), but she throws this into conflict by making out with a pop icon. We never see her apologize or win back her bandmate’s trust or even develop that not-quite-romance. Similarly, when she’s poised to make the big betrayal we find out why she turned the offer down, but little else seems to motivate this decision in the story.
I found the joy in this film to be its singular music video and performances by Elle Fanning. It doesn’t ring in the sense that our hearts swelter for Violet’s struggle. Instead, these gilded pop renditions win our hearts (in the way of all pop songs) and carry us on short emotional rides. I listened to the soundtrack again the next day, mostly so I could remember those golden music video nuggets hidden among the storyline. Admittedly, this movie might benefit from more substance, but it’s not for lack of style. Teenage girls everywhere should not sleep on this movie.
In theaters Friday, April 19th
