Replete with beauty and heartache, Tovar’s debut film, Sad Girlz (Chicas tristes), playing at Tribeca Festival, captures an all-too-familiar experience with extraordinary depth and sweetness.
It takes a great amount of sensitivity to portray the dissonance left in trauma’s wake. The confused emotional aftermath of assault is something Fernanda Tovar portrays so well in her debut film Sad Girlz (Chicas Tristes), mapping the journey through realisation, sadness and healing. The coming-of-age drama explores friendship, girlhood, and this trauma with a sense of simultaneous gravity and relief, heavy yet dotted with lighthearted fragments and warm wit.
Winner of the Berlinale Crystal Bear and the Generation 14plus Grand Prix for Best Film at its world premiere, Tovar’s debut has already been met with exceptional critical acclaim. The film’s North American release at the Tribeca Festival has been highly anticipated and is well worth the wait.
Immediately colourful and dappled with the blazing heat of Mexico City, Sad Girlz starts with the Sofia Coppola-esque prettiness of girlhood. The giddiness of everything and nothing at all is pictured throughout, reflecting a universal memory of youth. Two inseparable friends, Paula and Maestra, are 16 and at the crux of their summer, studying and training hard for a swimming championship that will take them to Brazil. After a house party and a moment alone spent between Paula and her crush from the swimming team, things begin to shift.
The film captures Paula’s dawning realisation, fear, and sadness with nuance, slowly interweaving this impact between instances of joy and contentment she shares with Maestra. As she continues to struggle, and Maestra grows angrier for her, their friendship is strained by the weight of it all.
There are wonderfully poignant scenes scattered throughout the film that truly capture the girls’ coming-of-age summer. A solar eclipse, a psychedelic trip and a late-night swim all feel like moments of clarity, moments of becoming, each captured with exquisite precision. Sadder, heavier scenes are depicted with nuance, conveying the fragility and disorientation that trauma can create. The formal style, unembellished yet intentional, pictures the two girls against the backdrop of Mexico City’s urban brutality, and every single shot is a perfect image. Small details like hand-drawn celebrity sketches and accumulated postcards line the walls of Paula and Maestra’s rooms, creating a depth to their characters that resonates. The rich use of colour reinforces the film’s themes, touching on the city’s buzzing vitality, too.
Tovar’s film also navigates the experiences specific to this young generation, referencing and incorporating ChatGPT and TikTok without resorting to overuse or novelty. It feels like a portrayal of youth, both specific and universal, connecting the realities of girlhood across countries and generations. It reconnects the viewer with elements of friendship and identity that are often overlooked, yet studied here in the detail that only a good coming-of-age film can provide.
Sad Girlz feels like a classic in the making, memorable and beautiful. Performances by Rocío Guzmán (Maestra) and Darana Álvarez (Paula) feel natural, sensitive, and raw, with the supporting cast equally enigmatic and strong. Its story and delivery are balanced, examining a heavy topic with a warmth and bittersweet relief that feels true. The result is a film that is remarkably profound and gorgeous, rich with girlhood that prevails.
Follow Us