Ladyworld review: A group of teenage girls finds themselves trapped indoors during a slumber party after a violent earthquake, in this very female take on Lord of the Flies.
Provided by Sydney Film Festival PR
Opening with screams of distress along with sounds of rumbling and destruction over a black screen, Ladyworld has a disorientating start. We cut from that blackness to two teenage girls, Olivia (Ariela Barer) and Dolly (Ryan Simpkins), whom along with six other girls, find themselves trapped in a house after an Earthquake. The girls, most of whom don’t appear to know each other that well, were attending a Birthday party, but now find themselves trapped indoors, with no idea when, or if, rescue will come. Things start off well, the girls forsaking appointing a leader in favour of taking turns using a crystal to express their opinions, and them all enjoying a glass of Chardonnay, but soon events escalate. The group finds itself fractured as communication breaks down and a struggle for dominance unfurls upon the discovery that there may be a strange man also trapped in the house with them.
Screening at Sydney Film Festival, Ladyworld is a quirky, rather art-house, female take on the Lord of the Flies. William Golding’s 1954 novel focused on a group of boys that struggle to govern themselves after they find themselves shipwrecked on a deserted island. It’s a wicked tale of the corruption of power and the power that fear has over control our actions. It also highlight’s just how vicious children can be to one another. All these themes are present in Ladyworld, with the teenage girl slant offering a new take. Girls can be mean enough to one another without them being trapped together with dwindling food and water supplies, and despite Dolly’s belief that ‘we’re not boys, we’re not brutal’, they soon become just that.
This ‘brutality’ initially manifests in the guise of teasing and taunting, but quickly escalates into something more physical. What it isn’t though, is too visceral. There is an elegant air to the whole affair, from costume to music to setting, and the juxtaposition of both creates another more heightened fantastical world. The ‘Ladyworld’ is not quite real to us and that enables us to make allowances for certain actions and decisions.
Part of the (Lady)world building involves cleverly thought-out and interesting costuming. First and foremost they are, for the most part, ridiculously lavish, screaming vintage and couture, far too fancy for girls so young. These outfits assist in creating the stylised high fashion aesthetic that Kramer seems to be striving for. More interestingly is that the posh frocks reinforce the young women as doll-like creatures. It’s also rather intriguing that the two ‘leaders’, Olivia and Piper (Annalise Basso), are both clad in more typically masculine clothing the first time we see them; Olivia in denim overalls, and Piper in a baggy hoodie. Are they seen as being in control by the other girls because of the subconscious connotations of those clothes? There is a wealth of material to analyse here, and it would make a rather nice addition to a media studies course.
Callie Ryan’s score is an intense accompaniment to the on-screen actions. A mixture of distorted rumbles and female vocals that play under most of the film; the score, like the film, takes the audience on a journey. The female vocals begin as light gasps and moans before becoming screams and progressively more feral in nature as we reach our conclusion. Through the score alone, we get a sense of the girls’ descent into madness, but when paired with the visuals, the impact is much greater.
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The trouble with Ladyworld comes from the pacing of the story. There is a distinct lack of time, and it’s hard to tell how long the girls have been trapped before things start to turn. It seems like hardly any time at all, and that sense of time is something that has potentially been lost in the edit. It’s a shame, as without a build-up some of the girls seem to just got wild far too quickly. Of course it could also just be told in this manner so as to further reinforce the otherworldly nature, but it doesn’t quite land. From a personal perspective, it might have also been nice to see the girls, however briefly, before they find themselves trapped. This would enable the viewer to get a snapshot of what each girl was like before, and offer a nice comparison to where they end-up. By starting post quake this opportunity is lost as all the girls will already be acting differently.
Inspired costuming and score create a true ‘other world’, but a lack of clarity on a couple of key elements leaves the viewer a little muddled. Overall though, Ladyworld is a solidly made film, one that raises an interesting range of debates, and is the perfect accompaniment to a viewing of Lord of the Flies.
Ladyworld was reviewed at the 2019 Sydney Film Festival.
