A young woman in a fundamentalist Christian community struggles with her faith, sexuality, and forbidden love for a charismatic youth pastor. A film by Laurel Parmet, starring Eliza Scanlen, Lewis Pullman, Jimmi Simpson, Wrenn Schmidt, and Austin Abrams.

The story follows Jem Starling (Eliza Scanlen), a young woman in Holy Grace, the church dance troupe within fundamentalist Christian community in Kentucky. She resides with her immediate family, which comprises her father Paul (Jimmi Simpson, her mother Heidi (Wrenn Schmidt), and her siblings, Rebecca (Claire Elizabeth Green), Sarah (Ellie May), Noah (Chris Dinner) and Jeremy (Kieran Satawi).

At the age of seventeen, when she was considered to be of marriageable age, her parents has arranged for her to begin a courtship with Ben Taylor (Austin Abrams), the younger son of the respectable pastor Taylor (Kyle Secor). Although she is reluctant, she has no choice but to comply with the Christian traditions and her parents’ wishes.

Christian courtship, also known as Biblical courtship, is the traditional Christian practice of individuals in approaching “the prospect of marriage”. Courtship ordinarily begins when a single man approaches a single woman by going through the woman’s father, and then conducts his relationship with the woman under the authority of her father, family, or church, whichever is most appropriate. Courtship always has marriage as its direct goal.

Jem finds herself attracted to (Lewis Pullman), the older son of the community pastor who had recently returned from his study in Puerto Rico and is now in charge of the church’s youth program. When she learns that the dance troupe would be dissolved because Mrs. Baker, their dance instructor, decided not to return, Jem is determined to save it. She approaches Owen and persuades him to let her lead the troupe instead.

Jem devises a meticulous plan to get closer to Owen. She deflates her own bicycle tire so that she can ask him for a ride home. She also spends more time with him at church and at the youth program. Owen is initially resistant to Jem’s advances, but he eventually succumbs to her charms despite the fact that he is already married to a woman through courtship. He claims that he is unhappy and they are unable to stand each other. The two of them begin a secret relationship although Owen should know better that it is doomed to end miserably.

Jem is given a false hope that it is God’s plan and they are meant to be together. However, their relationship is built on a foundation of lies and deception, and it is only a matter of time before it comes crashing down.

A coming-of-age film written and directed by American filmmaker Laurel Parmet in her directorial debut, “THE STARLING GIRL” is a nuanced and thought-provoking exploration of the complex dynamics of power and gender within Christian fundamentalist communities. The film is inspired by the director’s own experiences spending time with women in these communities, and it draws on her observations of the ways in which women’s desires are considered sinful and how the male-dominated church often blames women when they discover an affair in their community.

THE STARLING GIRL feels authentic and deeply felt, with Eliza Scanlen’s amazing performance in a role of complicated young woman who is torn between conventional Christian fundamentalist rules and what her heart truly desires. Although coming-of-age ideas probably have been retold again and again in almost every possible way, the director finds a way to make it unforgettable and leave the end open for interpretation. I also love how the songs are used to heighten emotions of the scenes as they are integral to the story, helping to convey character’s state of mind.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am nothing.

THE STARLING GIRL premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 21 January 2023. The film was theatrically released in the United States on 12 March, by Bleecker Street.