Certificate: PG
Running Time: 106 mins
UK Distributor: Lionsgate
WHO’S IN ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET?
Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams, Benny Safdie, Kathy Bates, Elle Graham, Amari Price, Katherine Kupferer, Kate MacCluggage, Aidan Wojtak-Hissong, Landon Baxter, Mackenzie Joy Potter, Olivia Frances Williams, Echo Kellum, Simms May, Zackary Brooks, JeCobi Swain, Isol Young, Rabbi Michael Wolk, Tanya McClellan
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Kelly Fremon Craig (director, writer, producer), Julie Ansell, Judy Blume, Amy Brooks, James L. Brooks, Aldric La’auli Porter and Richard Sakai (producers), Hans Zimmer (composer), Tim Ives (cinematographer), Oona Flaherty and Nick Moore (editors)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
A young girl (Fortson) questions her faith as she blossoms into womanhood…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET?
In 1970, children’s author Judy Blume published what is arguably her most famous novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, which immediately received praise for its honest depiction of blossoming female adolescence, something that pre-teen girls confused about their own bodies undoubtedly needed to hear at the time. Unfortunately, the book also attracted a number of challenges from some concerned (and, let’s be honest here, overwhelmingly conservative) parents who felt that its mature themes of religion and menstruation were too much for its young readers, leading it to become one of the most contested books of the twentieth century, as well as incredibly difficult for its target audience to check out of their school libraries without proper consent from their parents.
Perhaps it is this fierce backlash that put Blume off from giving the film rights to anyone for fifty years, but whatever the reason the author has only now granted The Edge of Seventeen writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig permission to bring her story to the screen. This in and of itself raises a number of intriguing concerns: would a story written more than fifty years ago still feel relevant in 2023? Will modern-day kids and pre-teens find it as endearing and even helpful as previous generations did? Most importantly, after all these years of staying away from the screen, is Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret going to be worth the wait?
The answers, respectively, are yes, yes, and very much yes.
Craig’s adaptation keeps the story firmly in 1970, beginning as eleven-year-old Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson) arrives home from summer camp to learn that her parents Barbara (Rachel McAdams) and Herb (Benny Safdie) are planning to move from their apartment in New York to the suburbs of New Jersey. Although initially upset by the move, since she’ll be away from her beloved paternal grandmother Sylvia (Kathy Bates), Margaret quickly settles in to her new environment, and befriends a group of girls at her new school who actively anticipate their imminent bodily developments, including wearing bras and getting their first periods.
However, one of the things that seems to be bothering young Margaret the most is her uncertainty about religion: since her mother is a Christian and her father is Jewish, she has been raised to choose her own path when she is older, but her deepening curiosity leads her to start exploring numerous faiths and even having private conversations with God himself, in the hopes that she will finally settle on a stance as she begins to enter womanhood.
Regardless of whether you’ve ready the original book or not, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is an incredibly wholesome film that refreshingly doesn’t talk down to younger audiences about most things, from its exploration of both the pros and cons of devout religion to everything that pre-teen girls’ bodies have to go through. It is very direct in talking about bodily and hormonal development, in ways that might leave you a bit taken aback at first, especially as young characters giggle over male anatomy and talk about what they need to do in order to increase their bust sizes (which, unless you’re a creep that should be on some sort of register, might make you feel more than a little uncomfortable at first). However, the film is never shameful towards itself or its characters for doing such things, because it knows these are completely natural developments and embraces that fact with plenty of winning energy, while also making it clear that anyone who reserves and departs judgement on others for their bodily development, including sometimes young Margaret herself, are immediately in the wrong.
The religious aspect of the story is also dealt with plenty of maturity, taking some time to explore several religions and their numerous benefits and setbacks. Trips to Jewish synagogues, Catholic confessional booths, Christian nativities, and even Black Christian congregations certainly move Margaret in different ways, and she sees first-hand how some of her close family and friends respond to them, again without being condescending or judgemental toward their enjoyment of the services. However, the film also has enough restraint to stop itself from entirely bigging up one faith over another, especially as we learn that deep-rooted religion and intolerance of other faiths has caused her mother’s Christian parents to completely disown her for marrying a Jewish man. I can think of a lot of right-leaning faith-based companies and filmmakers who could really learn a lot from this film about how to accept and embrace religions other than their own, which in turn would promote the ultimate doctrine of any religion, which is to just be a good and kind person to others, even if they don’t share the same benefits or backgrounds as you do.
This is a film that feels vital for anyone of any age to watch, just as the book was for all readers back in 1970, and it’s made more so by the wonderful filmmaking, writing, and acting on display. Anyone who will have seen Kelly Fremon Craig’s previous film The Edge of Seventeen will already know that she is the perfect filmmaker to adapt this story, because that film showed how she seems to truly understand what it is to be an awkward adolescent woman confronted with the painful realities of growing up, and here both her script and direction really nails the naivety and curiosity of this young girl struggling to make sense of the adult stuff going on around her.
Craig is also lucky enough to have great performers on board to bring these characters to life with a grand mixture of charm, humour and sweetness, led by young Abby Ryder Fortson who easily carries the movie with a huge heart on her sleeve. Fortson has great support from a lively Kathy Bates, Benny Safdie as the doofy dad with a ton of charisma, a scene-stealing Elle Graham as preppy and overly confident classmate Nancy Wheeler, and especially Rachel McAdams who, in one of her best performances to date, shows the deep hurt of a mother weighed down by the demanding world around her.
With its smart, funny, and refreshingly mature approach to its themes and messages, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is a loving and wholesome film that should hopefully receive far less conservative backlash than its source material did fifty years prior, if only to show how ridiculous that initial backlash was all those years ago.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is a loving and wholesome ode to young womanhood that adapts Judy Blume’s classic book with refreshing frankness and maturity towards its themes of female adolescence and religion without reserving judgement for any of it, which should easily make it prime viewing for audiences of most ages.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is showing in cinemas from Friday 19th May 2023
