This article contains violent content and discussions of rape and sexual material.
Netflix’s new hit, “Luckiest Girl Alive” came to the screens two months ago and has been the topic of many discussions online. The film, which stars Mila Kunis and is based on Jessica Knoll’s novel of the same name, is a thriller about the life of 28-year-old Tifani Fanelli, a successful women’s magazine editor who has built her life meticulously to perfection. When a producer begins to harass her about participating in a documentary about a school shooting that occurred when she was fourteen, buried memories about trauma begin to resurface, breaking her façade brick by brick.
Without giving many spoilers, the story relies heavily on mentions of sexual violence and a school shooting to build its argument, being a huge potential trigger for sensitive viewers. Netflix warns viewers at the beginning that the film is R-rated for “violent content, rape, sexual material, sexual violence and threat”. This barely prepares the audience to watch three graphic rape scenes that occur halfway through the film.
In context, the scenes are well-directed, telling it through the POV of the victim instead of the assailants, making it extremely easy to sympathize with young Ani and what she goes through. It’s clear the director intends to build those scenes as horribly as possible to have the greatest impact on the audience when we see the consequences of the trauma in her adult life. As far as male-directed rape scenes go, this gets a pass for trying.
The issue lies in the extent of what’s shown. The three scenes leave little to the imagination and are incredibly disturbing, which can be a major trigger for people with a past of sexual violence. Discussions were raised as to whether it was necessary to be so graphic with such scenes, as fewer visuals could have easily portrayed the same message. Several psychologists went to Twitter to expose their diverse opinions on whether it acted as a precursor of the message or just a potential trigger with no real need for it.
The novel’s author, Jessica Knoll, was an executive producer and contacted the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) for help in the scenes. She said the intention was to show “it was really bad,” with no need to “minimize” her experience. For anyone who watches the movie, it is made very clear that it’s impossible to minimize her experience nonetheless, with Ani still fighting to recover from the trauma years later.
The consensus is that there is a big lack of warning on Netflix’s part, which should have displayed trigger warnings in bold, big font at the beginning of the movie.
With this, I will say that the film is an incredible take on victim-blaming, sexism in relationships and just surviving terrible trauma. Kunis’ performance makes it impossible to ignore the issues presented, and hopefully, this will serve as a highlight of gang rape culture in young circles.