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| Alice stumbles into an explicit AOL Chatroom Image Courtesy of IndieWire |
Based on the short film
by the same name, Karen Maine’s Yes, God, Yes, explores a young Catholic
girl’s sexual awakening, and the conflict between her faith and new desires. This
film follows Alice (Natalia Dyer), a girl in high school who is the victim of a
malicious rumor that she “tossed Wade’s salad” at a party. For those unsure of
the meaning of this term, the introduction of the film provides a helpful definition,
otherwise Urban Dictionary can supply an answer. Alice’s awakening comes amid her
sexual education classes taught by Fr. Murphy (Timothy Simons), who presents a Catholic
perspective on sexuality, one focused on abstinence and marriage, entirely
ignoring female pleasure while addressing male desires. Alice heads off to a
retreat in the woods with her class to deepen their relationship with Christ
where Alice meets Chris (Wolfgang Novogratz), an older high schooler who she
develops an intense crush on. Much of the internal plot of the film revolves
around Alice reconciling her newly discovered sexuality with the social
pressures around her to remain chaste and pure.
This is a classic coming
of age story that follows a slightly predictable formula, focusing on the
battle between society and the pressures religious authority can impose on self-discovery.
All the figures in Alice’s life are sending one message while she is starting to
think in a different direction. Her confusions burst out in ways that baffle
those around her, leading her into further trouble and mischief.
Alice and Chris having an awkward interraction
Image Courtesy of WBUR
One of the most
compelling characters in the film is Gina (Susan Blackwell), who runs a lesbian
bar Alice stumbles into. Gina and Alice’s conversation serves to affirm Alice’s
questions, and is one of the few moments in the film where an adult is fully
truthful to Alice. She repeatedly witnesses the people in her life fail at the
lessons they try to instill, including her priest, parents, and friends. Although
the revelations Alice receives are common to many coming of age stories, that nobody
really knows what they’re doing, it felt earned, and fresh given Alice’s
experiences in the rest of the film.
One of the aspects that pulled
me out of the film slightly was the pacing. The movie felt very fast paced at times
and could have used some scenes between acts to aide in transitions. There are
even some minor continuity errors that suggest there were scenes cut without reshoots
to adjust for the breaks in the story. Although noticeable, the breaks do not
cause so much confusion that the plot becomes obscured.
The choice to add
voiceover at key moments to remind Alice of lessons that contradict what she is
experiencing also drew me out of the moment. It broke the flow of the scene,
and often times the connection to the lesson and the current predicament was
apparent enough that the voiceover was unnecessary.
Where this film was most
successful was in the way it portrayed the way high schoolers on the verge of
discovering sex discuss it, and in its use of innuendo. The phrase “tossing
salad” runs the whole movie as a part of the rumor spread about Alice. This
brought me back to post sex-ed conversations in middle and high school that
always seemed to involve the phrase: “you don’t know what ______ is?” insert
any strange exotic sex act into the blank. Anyone professing knowledge about these
secrets was seen as more adult, while nobody would dare admit to not knowing one
of the terms. This film captured the awkwardness of talking about sex for the
first time, and ignorant knowledge of those who pretended to be more
experienced than they actually were.
The film also contained
numerous innuendos to sex in the everyday language and activities that Alice
and the other kids in her class did at the camp. This was done to capture what can
almost be seen as the existential revelation the discovery of sex is to a teenager.
Certain phrases and actions take on a new meaning, and with sex on the brain
everything becomes an innuendo. Karen Maine handled this very well by allowing
some innuendos to sit in the background where the audience can experience them,
but the characters are still oblivious while other times the innuendo becomes a
source of tension.
This film was a great
exploration of the social and religious pressures young woman face when they
are discovering their sexuality. Not only that, it was entertaining and despite
dealing with a heavy subject matter, quite funny throughout. I was drawn in by
the humor and stayed for the message.
-Patrick Bernas
