Babyteeth – Review

Babyteeth

Directed by: Shannon Murphy

Runtime: 120 minutes

As anyone who made it through the awkwardness of adolescence knows all too well, the trials and tribulation of early life are situational and relative. For years, you might fret and constantly sweat the small stuff—school, holidays, friends, hobbies—only to arrive at the rude awakening of adulthood by stumbling through the haze of trying to be an uncertain twenty-something before comfortably landing on the outright cynicism and diminishing returns of your thirties. In Babyteeth, the directorial debut from Australian director Shannon Murphy and screenwriter Rita Kalnejais, we see what happens when this future timeline is already occluded and vastly out of reach, when all those possible tomorrows suddenly crash into the visceral present of right now, landing with all the urgency and weighty expectations of teenage passion.

Milla Finlay (Eliza Scanlen) is a normal 16-year-old Sydney schoolgirl, who also happens to have cancer and a terminal diagnosis hanging over her head. After a fateful run-in with a free-wheeling vagrant and small-time drug dealer, Moses (Toby Wallace), Milla decides to throw caution to the wind and embrace the vagaries of young love. For her upper-middle-class parents, Henry (Ben Mendelsohn), a practicing psychiatrist, and Anna (Essie Davis), a retired and heavily medicated classical pianist, Milla’s bourgeoning and often volatile relationship with Moses quickly becomes their worst nightmare, as their quiet suburban life begins to unravel around them.

In the director’s Q&A before my screening of the film, Murphy described her approach with the cast and characters as working towards an “authenticity in their messiness.” And, indeed, this is one of the strengths of Babyteeth, as it achieves a gritty realism through occasionally endearing portrayals of personal chaos and the complexity of social interactions. While the coming-of-age story is a well-worn genre convention in its own right, Murphy manages to make Milla’s story feel regionally grounded to its domestic Australian setting, while also speaking to the universal lived experience of young women the world over.

Along with cinematographer Andrew Commis, Murphy (who has a background in theatre and television) brings a measured sense of visual style to the film, infusing urban locations and party scenes with pulsing neon and kaleidoscopic colour palettes. Tonally, the film attempts to keep the audience unmoored and disoriented to limited effect. Meandering subplots involving quirky neighbours and colleagues sit just under the surface, never quite boiling over to disturb the main narrative throughline. Additionally, for those with a keen eye, the film also has some neat thematic touches and symbolic set details that help to pull together the world of the film.

However, it’s the performances that shine in Babyteeth, helping to carry the emotional weight of this tragic story right down to its tear-jerker finale and entirely manipulative, gut-punch coda. Scanlen is magnetic in her role as Milla, imbuing the young woman with a sense of raw vulnerability and grace, despite the gravity of her situation. At the same time, Wallace’s live-wire transformation into Moses is similarly compelling, as the young actor utterly disappears into his performance and delivers most of the film’s brevity and light-hearted humour. (Wallace was awarded the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress at the 76th Venice International Film Festival for his portrayal.) Acting heavyweights like Mendelsohn and Davis also help to make Henry and Anna feel like real parents, caught between their undying love for Milla and letting her have a rich, rewarding, and messy life with what fleeting moments she has left.

All told, Babyteeth is a heart-warming and emotionally affecting drama with a resonant ending that will stick with you long after the final credits wash ashore.