The Girl in the Book (2015) Emily VanCamp, Courtney Daniels, Jordan Lage, Ana Mulvoy Ten, Michael Cristofer, Michael Nyqvist Movie Review

The Girl in the Book (2015)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Emily VanCamp in The Girl in the Book (2015)

Moving On

29 year old Alice (Emily VanCamp) works as a book editor for a NYC publishing company but her life isn't great as her boss treats her like a secretary, she has meaningless sex with men she meets in bars and her father treats her like she isn't capable of doing things for herself. But things get complicated when not only does Alice meet a nice guy through friends but her boss wants her to work re-editing an old book written by Milan (Michael Nyqvist). It was as a teenager and as an aspiring writer that Alice met Milan through her father who offered to guide her writing but ended up using his position of being a respected author to abuse her. The question is will Alice finally be able to move on from the past with the help of her friends or not?

"The Girl in the Book" is just an okay movie... I imagine that sentence might incense some people who have watched this movie and found it deeply moving but let me enlarge on this. As a movie reviewer I have watched a few movies which deal with both an adult grooming a teenager and also a teenager dealing with issues resulting from childhood abuse when they have grown up and when I compare this movie to those others it is just an okay movie.

Michael Nyqvist in The Girl in the Book (2015)

What that does mean is that for those familiar with these sorts of movies will most likely find that "The Girl in the Book" covers some familiar ground. On one hand we get to see how the respected Milan sets about grooming the impressionable young Alice, making her feel special and much more till he rapes her. Then at the same time we get to see Alice's grown up life where we not only see how men in her life dominate her be it her father or boss but we also see how the effects of being groomed and raped as a teenager has lead to unsatisfying romantic relationships. That is it and whilst I won't tell you the outcome that sense of familiarity feels like a stumbling block. Having said that I can see how it would be powerful for those not familiar with this type of movie.

What certainly goes in the favour of "The Girl in the Book" is the casting of Emily VanCamp as she delivers a strong performance. You really get an idea of her life as being a mess as she makes relationship mistakes and has a general lack of self worth because of the way men use her and in some cases she allows them to. It is because of VanCamp you get to really sense how her life has been formed because of what happened to Alice as a teenager. There is of course Michael Nyqvist and his performance as Milan a sexual predator is spine chillingly real and you get a real sense as we watch Milan seduce Alice that he has probably done it before.

What this all boils down to is that "The Girl in the Book" is a good movie which deals with the subject of childhood abuse and how it changes people. But whilst a good movie this will end up liking it is covering the same ground which other movies have done.


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