Short Films "The Imaginary Girl"

The Imaginary Girl, directed by Richard Porter (2007) explores the life of a broken family and how they have been affected by the break up, from all perspectives. The little girl is clearly in the middle of all the mix up and appears to have been this way for a long time. She seeks her sanity in playing with a handmade play set where she gets her imagination run free. 

Throughout the film we can learn to understand that the play set is her way of connecting with her Father who lives away. We learn this because he gives her a windmill made out of a jug and a flower pot and talks about the play set as if he knows it well. When her Mother comes in the little girl is scared to show her so hides it behind her back. This highlights to the audience how there is a conflict between her imaginative side and her Mother. This is particularly apparent when the little girl hides the plates in a matter of seconds as her Mother comes up the stairs showing she has completed this hideaway many times. Another way this is apparent is when the Mother sees the play set and the windmill that her Dad gave her, the Mum destroys it despite the little girls protests of "but I worked hard on it". The little girl then is made to feel like the guilty party and is told to go outside and play with the other children. The little girl does play the war game with the boys in her road however when she wins and goes back home, there is no evidence of her having actually played, causing the Mum to become angry once again. I believe the film is trying to portray the little girl as maybe having some form of mental illness, maybe its just starting because she was adamant that she had played with the boys. When the girl asks the boys if she can play they tell her that she can't, however when her mum asks, she said that they said she could play which in fact, isn't true. This leads us to believe that she really imagined that she played with them, evidencing the theory of the illness. 

I think that the story has been written very well because you can understand the characters and know that both parents have their best intentions at heart for the little girl. However you can clearly see the strain of living with the little girl who isn't socially equipped has taken its tole on the Mother more than it has on the Father who sees that there is nothing wrong with her wanting to play on her own. 

I don't think that I can make any comparisons to my film as they are both very different, however I will definitely take the effect that the story had one me when watching it with me when I come to write my next project. This is because I feel that the story has been so cleverly written and gives the audience the perspectives of all characters that I would love to be able to write something that leaves the audience questioning like this film left me. This is something I shall definitely practice when I am script writing next.