What is it like to be young and female and/or queer in this day and age, when social media is part of your daily practice, defines who you are, undermines or boosts your self-confidence? Answers can be found in this atmospheric, sensitive and revealing documentary set in the world of girls on the verge of adulthood.
They flutter through the film like butterflies in full bloom, do the main characters in Fanie Pelletier’s Opus Bonum Competition selection, also (and appropriately) named Bloom. The camera is at the center of their lives, as are the phones that have become an extension of their personalities. In the film, director Pelletier captures three groups of girls within their real lives, which to a large extent also take place online.
They are outside, talking to each other, and in front of their smartphones, with live audiences on the many apps available. Sometimes it’s just waiting and commenting on the comments, which are often complimentary, sometimes misguided, sometimes insulting or downright hateful. Sometimes the girls film their activities, sometimes they adapt what they are doing to what will be filmed.
The offline images of the three groups merge with what they show online within a dizzying array of films, photos and live videos. These are girls and young women who, for an anonymous audience, expose their deepest emotions or, alternatively, portray themselves as a version of a female ideal – the same ideal that causes the great uncertainty and deep trauma with which they struggle.
The documentary approaches the subject with a wonderful combination of intimacy and exhibitionism. The way the girls are filmed makes you feel like you are part of the group: the camera joins in as they lie on the grass, discussing their lives and rolling over each other. It climbs a tree with them and almost takes off as they, in slow motion, flee from the rain, holding hands.
It might feel like voyeurism, but that is avoided by the way the characters are so obviously themselves in front of that camera: vulnerable and strong at the same time, thoughtful and impulsive, insecure and self-conscious.
That real-time intimacy is in stark contrast to the so-called online intimacy – when they are hyper aware of their viewers. They pose, flirt, try out the effect their words and actions have, just like millions of others, a small part of whom we see in the film. It is particularly poignant seeing how eager they are to display themselves – not only the ideal image they dream of, but also their misery, depression and frustration with the lack of spectators (‘why is everyone leaving me?’). At the same time, you may wonder whether, for some, their online existence is perhaps their only form of interaction with others. A straw to which they can cling, to feel loved or at least to be seen.
This dilemma is beautifully envisioned in understated terms, both realistically and with a splendid sense of visual lyricism. It is a document that provides insight into how today’s young people, and girls in particular, operate and survive in a world where you can be who you want virtually, but which at the same time dictates who you should be.
Canada, 2022, 84 mins
Director: Fanie Pelletier
Producer: Audrey D. Laroche
Script: Fanie Pelletier
Photography: Matthew Wolkow
Editing: René Roberge
Music: Simon L’Espérance
Sound: Félix Lamarche
Sound Design: Luc Raymond
Cast: Salma Harfat, Marguerite Gagnon, Léane Lavallé-Davis, Maia Bonardelli, Elia Flici, Diana Tovar Coll, An
drea Tovar Coll
