Mark Reviews Movies: MADELINE'S MADELINE

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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 30, 2018

Madeline's Madeline opens with a bold statement—that everything we're going to see is a metaphor. It comes from a character dressed as a nurse, but we later learn that the character is an actress in an avant-garde theater troupe. Is this reality, a scene in some theater piece, or simply part of that overarching metaphor?

Then there's the camera's perspective, taking the view of the person to whom the nurse/actress is speaking. Maybe it's being spoken directly the audience, but then again, we can hear the distinct sounds of a cat purring. Sure enough, the next shot is of a cat, living in the home of the eponymous character. We think this might answer the question (although it raises many, many more if that is, indeed, the case), but then we finally meet Madeline (Helena Howard), a 16-year-old girl living with her mother Regina (Miranda July), a younger brother, and, of course, the cat.

Here's where it gets trickier—and, as forewarning, this isn't the end of the movie's tricks, either. Madeline is an aspiring actress who is part of the aforementioned theater group, which is devoted almost exclusively to physical acting. One of Madeline's go-to characters is a cat, and she prances, licks herself, and rubs against Regina while making a noise that sounds almost exactly like the purring cat from the opening scene.

In a way, it makes much more sense that the nurse is addressing Madeline in that opening scene, given that the teenager has a history of mental health issues—for which she, at one point, was sent to a psychiatric facility. On second thought, maybe the camera is representing the audience in that moment, and co-writer/director Josephine Decker is simply telling us not believe everything that we see and hear in the following story. As a third thought, maybe it really is the cat, and if that's the case, there are questions here that I haven't even considered.

The rest of Decker and co-screenwriter Donna di Novelli's story is a bit more straightforward than its opening moments. It's mostly about Madeline, as she participates in the theater troupe, endures a strained relationship with her mother, and finds the lines between acting and reality blurred to such a point that even we, as mere and theoretically less confused observers, can't tell the difference between the two.

The movie isn't a puzzle. Determining what is real and what is theater, a dream, or a vision isn't going to provide some kind of concrete answers about Madeline, her state of mind, her assorted relationships, or her ultimate fate. That doesn't prevent the movie from being quite puzzling—even to the point that it feels as if it's isolating itself from us.

It's best to approach the movie more as an experience than as a narrative. In that regard, it's often enticing. A lot of the story is devoted to Madeline's theatrical experience, as the troupe's leader Evangeline (Molly Parker) is trying to put together a show but seems uncertain about its content, its purpose, or its goal. Evangeline puts her actors in pig masks. She invites a former convict to describe what it's like to be incarcerated. Nothing clicks, but Madeline's story—especially the girl's relationship with her mother—seems like a promising setup for a theater piece.

Throughout the movie, we see that relationship from three perspectives: Regina's Madeline's, and Evangeline's. Regina doesn't see any problems on her end. She attentive, caring, and concerned about her daughter's mental health. Madeline sees her as overbearing, oppressive, and judgmental. One of the earlier scenes in the movie shows Madeline going after her mother with an iron. She later tells Evangeline that it was a dream. The girl confides in her teacher/director in a way that appears as if Madeline has adopted the woman as a surrogate mother. Later, Evangeline is pregnant, and when Madeline learns this, Decker captures the look of combined jealousy, rejection, and abandonment on the teenager's face. Howard's performance is quite impressive here, moving with sudden, unpredictable shifts between exposed emotions and dead-eyed apathy.

For her part, Evangeline sees the relationship between Madeline and Regina as an opportunity. As great as Howard and July are in expressing the constant mood shifts of their respective characters, Parker's performance is especially noteworthy in how Evangeline rarely changes. It's all a matter of perspective, as the theater director's early attention to Madeline seems sincere and compassionate, only to reveal itself as the wily opportunism of a woman who's desperate to keep her passion project afloat. At a certain point, Decker's goal itself seems to shift, using Madeline's story as a way to convey concern about the ways that artists can exploit the real pain of other people as a means of making art.

That, as well as Madeline's ultimate acceptance or rejection of this idea, feels like the ultimate point here, but it's difficult to determine. At a certain point, Madeline's story doesn't remain her own, because, within the movie, it's being manipulated by Evangeline and, as a whole, the character becomes a pawn for Decker's own goals. Madeline's Madeline, then, loses track of Madeline as her own person, as she simply becomes an idea for others. Maybe that's the point, but when everything's a metaphor, who can tell for certain?

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