Madeline's Madeline (2018)

Madeline’s Madeline, a 2018 film directed by Josephine Decker and starring Helena Howard in the titular role, follows a young girl who is part of a professional acting troupe. As Madeline’s dedication to her work grows, and as her relationship with her mother (Miranda July) grows more and more fractured, the lines between Madeline’s real life and her stage life begin to blur. What follows is an emotional, frightening, and dreamlike story looking at the way in which actresses are exploited because of their vulnerabilities, and how often this exploitation is overlooked.

Madeline’s Madeline isn’t an easy watch, for various reasons. It’s not a movie that will appeal to everyone (though I personally found it brilliant), and it’s one that the audience needs to digest before forming a real opinion. It’s a tough movie, and all of its aspects, from the camerawork to the writing to the performances, are heavily anxiety-inducing. The film has merit as a thriller, and there are plenty of frightening moments throughout that make the audience question how dark the film will actually become.

What’s most difficult to watch is the way in which Madeline’s vulnerabilities are taken advantage of by Evangeline (Molly Parker), the director of Madeline’s acting troupe who Madeline looks up to as a mother figure, oblivious as to how Evangeline is taking Madeline’s pain and using it to heighten her own work.