Growing Up Isn’t Simple in Big Girls Don’t Cry
Still from Big Girls Don’t Cry. Photo courtesy of the Calgary International Film Festival.
Big Girls Don’t Cry is a coming-of-age, or more appropriately, an almost-coming-of-age film. At its centre is Sid, a 14-year-old girl desperate to make the most of her summer break.
Similarly to films like Eighth Grade and The Way Way Back, Big Girls Don’t Cry dials in on the most awkward, uncertain moments of adolescence. This film delivers by placing the audience into the mind of its young protagonist.
Sid is a curious young girl, on the edge of womanhood, who is eager to DO. Do what exactly? Anything that she hasn’t tried before. Starting with making friends with some older girls, Lana and Stevie. These teens take her to parties, teach her to shotgun beers, and ultimately lead her down a path toward exploring her blossoming sexuality. They offer Sid everything she has been looking for — in exchange for her father’s booze.
Sid makes every wrong decision she could throughout this film's runtime. Yet, writer/director Paloma Schneideman never makes her the villain. Her mistakes are the decision of a girl who is trying really hard to fit in and grow up.
Sid has no guidance or structure, so naturally she mistakes adult expeirnces for adult maturity. Smoking weed, staying out all night and hanging out with her new older friends convince her that she is becoming more grown-up. Cleverly, we see this transformation through her wardrobe.
At the beginning of summer, Sid hides behind baggy t-shirts, long shorts, one-piece swim suits, and borrowed sweaters. As summer break comes to an end, Sid’s shirts get cropped, her shorts become shorter and she sheds her layers. She believes that she’s changing and growing up. The audience knows it’s not quite that simple.
Sid’s curiosity lands on the mystique of Lana, the older girl who becomes an object of Sid’s desire and admiration. Is Sid jealous of Lana, or is the jealous of the boys hanging out with Lana? Does she want to be her, or be with her? The film concludes without a clear cut answer, which makes sense. Sid needs a few more years before she can answer that question herself.
This film covers the entirety of Sid’s summer break. We go through six weeks with her, yet there is no grand transformation or life-altering event. Still, we are pulled so firmly into Sid’s world. There is something remarkable about watching Sid stumble through her summer. The audience can look back and imagine running around with her, in rural New Zealand in 2006.
Sid isn’t a hero, a rebel or a cautionary tale. She’s a kid trying to grow up too quickly. It’s her that makes Big Girls Don’t Cry feel so honest.