FITTING IN shows how much the body informs the coming of age genre
Fitting In
Written and Directed by Molly McGlynn
Starring: Maddie Ziegler, Emily Hampshire, Djouliet Amara, and Ki Griffin
Rated R for sexual content, language, drug use and drinking involving teens
Runtime 105 minutes
In theaters February 2
by Katharine Mussellam, Contributor
Fitting In, director Molly McGlynn’s new semi-autobiographical film, opens with two epigraphs: one from Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex and one from the cult classic film Jennifer’s Body. This juxtaposition of a political text with pop culture is almost odd, but both quotes set up how the film explores the trials and tribulations of the embodied experiences of girls and women. McGlynn’s protagonist goes through hell as she navigates her newfound reality.
The film follows Lindy (Maddie Ziegler), a teenage girl who, like the director McGlynn herself, is diagnosed with MRKH syndrome. The revelation that she does not have a uterus and therefore will never menstruate or be able to give birth to children the way her peers can sends her on a painful journey. While she previously enjoyed the pleasures of friendship, a budding romantic and sexual relationship with cool boy Adam (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), and being selected for the varsity track team, Lindy becomes thwarted by insecurity from her understanding of herself as “abnormal” and pain from medical dilation she feels obligated to endure to “normalize” her body.
One of the film’s strengths is in focalizing the story through Lindy’s perspective. During her doctor’s office visits, we follow her eye as she notices little details in the room, from the photos on the wall to a silly button on the doctor’s lab coat, while feeling unable to fully process what is happening to her. We hear the voices in her head reading different things she finds online related to her condition as she tries to make sense of it. And we watch her expressions as she goes through various medical exams and procedures she goes through, understanding her pain without needing gory or intrusive details. This is made all the more sad to watch because her attitude towards her body changes so drastically after her diagnosis: the film begins with her finding enjoyment through her curiosity about sex and relatively comfortable in her skin.
While this aspect of the story shines a light on the medicalization of bodies that fall outside a perceived norm and the grappling with identity that Lindy deals with because of her diagnosis, Lindy’s relationship with her mother, Rita (Emily Hampshire), adds another dimension to the film. Rita is a single mom and also a breast cancer survivor, and so she has her own sense of being “abnormal” due to her diagnosis and resulting surgery. This not only adds another perspective about how different medical circumstances can alter one’s relationship to their body, but also brings Rita’s feelings of wanting to protect her daughter from those challenges into the mix. Rita and Lindy’s relationship results in some of the most pointed and poignant moments of the film.
Both the forced “normalization” of bodies and cancer are heavy topics, and the film doesn’t shy away from the problems and difficulties of those things, but ultimately Fitting In is a teen film with a positive outlook. Lindy makes mistakes as she tries to have meaningful relationships and experiences, but no mistake is irreparable – her life is still a work in progress. I also appreciated the different perspectives around Lindy’s condition, how some people in her situation identify as intersex and some do not. It was also refreshing that the film explores identity and sexuality in a way that tackles the insecurity involved in self-discovery along with the joys of it, without forcing labels. Along this line, the film does tout the idea that being open about oneself with others is more freeing than being quiet about it. And while in real life there are more nuances to this, given that Lindy faces a lot of shame about something she shouldn’t be ashamed of, it is valuable to tell a story that wants to lift such feelings of shame. McGlynn’s goal with the film was to create the kind of film she needed when she received her MRKH diagnosis and for others like her. While I may not share her experience, I think she succeeds in making a film that confronts as well as comforts.