Hurtling into an adult's world

THE Diary of a Teenage Girl is a coming-of-age drama refreshingly devoid of any of the artifice or hang-ups that might be associated with a story about a 15-year-old girl who has an affair with an older man. In keeping with its title character, the film combines a healthy lack of inhibition with an imaginative attitude while exploring sexual and social mores in 1970s San Francisco.

When we're first introduced to her, Minnie Goetz (Bel Powley) is walking home with a skip in her step, more than a little pleased with herself. She's just lost her virginity and can't wait to tell her (audio) diary about it (viewers are informed via flashback). "I think this makes me officially an adult, right?" she declares triumphantly to the microphone of her cassette recorder.

Having sex for the first time is a rite of passage for Minnie, an event that occurred on her terms and one that catapults her - in her eyes at least - into the adult world occupied by her flaky Bohemian mother Charlotte (Kristen Wiig). That the man she slept with is mom's 30-something slacker boyfriend Monroe (Alexander Skarsgard) only serves to validate Minnie's change in status.