Curator's Choice Screening: Young Adult

Hettie Judah, Curator of Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, has programmed a trilogy of films written by Diablo Cody – Juno, Young Adult and Tully – all of which explore parenthood from a female perspective.

Young Adult is written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman with Charlize Theron starring as the self-obsessed and shambolic Mavis Gary, a 37-year-old writer of young adult fiction. 

Returning to her hometown to reclaim her ex-boyfriend (Patrick Wilson) despite the fact he is happily married with a new baby, Mavis  creates a wave of emotional havoc in Cody’s blackly comedic look at a woman in the grips of a mid-life crisis. 

Hettie Judah says:

Whether in comedies or horror movies, mothers in cinema tend to fall into stereotypes – doting, ditzy, bawdy, nagging, neurotic, distant, toxic, unhinged. Portrayals rooted in women's lived experiences are rare indeed. I'm a great admirer of screenwriter Diablo Cody and the way she invites us to engage with complex emotion through sassy dialogue. She is incredibly funny, so her films read, superficially, as comedies, but they are driven by very relatable sadness, anger and frustration…”