‘Diary of a Teenage Girl’ is a terrific coming-of-age story

But most of those stories have been about teenage boys, finding themselves enraptured with a woman who’s either an adult or from some other social strata entirely (neatly encapsulated in Billy Joel’s seminal classic “Uptown Girl”).

Minnie follows her libido into riskier territory, but the film’s never judgmental or apologetic about her desires and attitudes. She first auditioned by sending a video reading of the role, and, out of character, included a brief message spoken directly to the camera and microphone.

Set in the Bay Area during 1976, high school student Minnie Goetze (Bel Powley) spends her study time doodling cute, but also inappropriate, drawings in her notebooks.

With eyes big enough to rival Shelley Duvall or Amanda Seyfried, 23 year-old English actress Powley gives an earthy, vulnerable performance as Minnie. Instead, Heller’s approach remains nearly clinical. The first-person point of view belongs to Minnie, even as all the power in her first sexual relationship is held by Monroe.

“I think there’s a real timeless quality to what she experiences”, Heller said. “You just don’t know it yet”.

The film is filled with animated sequences from the pages of Minnie’s diary. She’s becoming aware of what’s happening as it’s happening and she’s not capable of seeing it clearly until it’s nearly too late. 15-year old Minnie (Bel Powley), clad in her “Mickey Rat” T-shirt, makes the shocking declaration in voice-over as she heads home to the apartment where she resides with her divorced mother Charlotte (Kristen Wiig) and younger sister Gretel (Abby Wait) in hippy-infested San Francisco. Minnie’s mom, Charlotte (Kristen Wiig) is bringing up two girls from different fathers.

He’s sleeping with Minnie’s mother.

Films often fail to capture the turmoil of being a teenager – but not this one. It’s wrong, but it’s also something that stems from something human. “But many situations that are abusive are more grey than we like to think”. All your weird thoughts aren’t weird; everyone’s having them.

The film lives in the gap between the “should do” and the “actually did”, and nowhere more than in its central relationship. The movie is uncomfortable – the sex between Minnie and Monroe is statutory rape – and it doesn’t pull back as Minnie rushes forward. The boyfriend, Monroe (Alexander Skarsgard), is a lanky dude with a Steven Weed mustache, hazy notions of starting a vitamin empire, and a weakness when it involves underage girls bluntly coming on to him.

Minnie’s bedroom shows off the film’s vaguely nostalgic vibe.

Written and directed by debut filmmaker Marielle Heller, The Diary of a Teenage Girl lives up to its enthusiastic reception at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. In addition to her sexual development, Minnie takes steps in vocational formation, including heroine worship of cartoonist Aline Kominsky (lightly superimposed animations, a nod to the novel’s graphic elements, illustrate Minnie’s yen to illustrate).

We’ve all been teenagers, and we’ve all made stupid decisions while at that age. “We really wanted it to be a window into Minnie’s creative mind”. “He’s an adult; he’s responsible for what happens but without being an evil man. I didn’t feel like I had this responsibility to portray all of masculinity or play the guy to represent all men in the world”.

Cinematographer Brandon Trost shoots the film through seeming filters of hazy sun, giving everything a deceptive nostalgic warmth.

“Sometimes I look in the mirror and I can’t believe what I see”, Minnie says to herself.

“We don’t ever talk about 13- (to) 16-year-old girls being horny and wanting to have sex”, the actress adds.

Female sexuality has typically been so constrained by the movies that “Diary of a Teenage Girl” feels nearly radical in its portrait of empowering promiscuity.