A Surreptitious Relationship Turns Into a Nightmare in Erotic Thriller, “Miller’s Girl”

Usually, I would never write my reviews in the first person but, to properly convey my thoughts, liberties have been taken specifically for this film. I heard about “Miller’s Girl” via a random TikTok video. People in the comments section were encouraging others not to watch it but, as a naturally curious person, I decided to see what the fuss was really about. An hour and thirty-four minutes passed; I blinked, then exclaimed, “What did I just watch?”

“Miller’s Girl” kicks off with the young teenage heroine Cairo Sweet (Jenna Ortega), a smart girl who is entirely bored with life: It’s obvious from her deadpan narration of her life story. She lives alone in a mansion in rural Tennessee because her parents are lawyers who travel a lot, and they limit her contact with people. Her best friends are the antique books stacked on shelves across the mansion.

Cairo describes herself as lonely and “entirely unremarkable” and hopes to meet someone who, at least, understands her enough and doesn’t just tolerate her as her best friend Winnie Black (Gideon Adlon) does. In walks the new literature teacher and published author, Jonathan Miller (Martin Freeman) who, by the way, is old enough to be her father. He is a writer of erotic fiction – a genre that Cairo finds intriguing.

The two bond over their love for literature and writing and, as they draw closer, the lines between student and teacher blur. Longing stares, telling touches, and an inevitable kiss leave Cairo thinking of a future with Mr. Miller, who is indeed very married to a wife who barely gives him the time of day.

The plot thickens when Miller assigns a literature assignment to the class, and Cairo submits an erotic essay that is more of a confessional note. Miller is clearly disturbed; so, he threatens to fail her. Vindictively, she reports their “relationship” to the school Principal, and Mr. Miller loses his job.

Let’s dissect the above for a bit: Teachers should really not be having affairs with their students. The #MeToo movement has given us enough reasons why these relationships are a terrible idea, but “Miller’s Girl” seems to glamorize it, and that in itself is a walking red flag. Not only is Cairo pursuing Miller, but her best friend, Millie, is pursuing their coach: Boris Filmore (Bashir Salahuddin). The difference between the two girls, however, is Millie is more forward with her intentions and lets Mr. Filmore know exactly what she wants from him via sending her nudes.

If this makes you uncomfortable, like it made me, abort mission!

The plot becomes even more questionable when, knee-deep into it, we discover that Cairo is bisexual when she shares a passionate kiss with Winnie. This is in no way a slight to the LGBTQIA+ community but come on! How did Cairo go from wanting her male teacher to kissing her female best friend?

Next, Cairo’s decision to ruin her teacher’s life because of a “relationship” that, if I’m being honest, didn’t even happen – because Mr. Miller had some form of a moral compass – made me feel a righteous anger. Granted, I was disappointed in him for encouraging Cairo’s delusions but, in his defense, he recognized a kindred spirit, but he didn’t deserve to be thrown to the wolves because her pride got hurt. And yes, he should take the heap of the blame because of his age and position in her life, but my bias is entirely hinged on the fact that Cairo never admitted to the Principal where she went wrong. She threw Mr. Miller under the bus because of a threat, which I highly doubt would have been carried out given his soft spot for her.

“Miller’s Girl” excels in its simplistic plot. Admittedly, I was more drawn to its ability to weave the story along the four main characters, something that wouldn’t have happened had there been a roster of characters. But my skin crawled watching the sexual tension and sexual innuendos tossed around between the adult males and teenage females. It also thrives in its ability to resonate with literature diehards through its reference to poems, books, and well erotic novel tapestry.

The first-person point of view the film utilizes, which gives us a very graphic look into how Cairo’s mind works, is also very commendable. I found her very interesting and admirably more mature than most people her age. She was direct, blunt, witty, and knew exactly what – more like who – she wanted, Mr. Miller, but she couldn’t have him.

The biggest flaw in this narrative has to be the typecasting of Ortega. She scored her first breakout role and Emmy nomination by portraying the iconic Wednesday Addams, a pessimistic teenage goth in the Netflix series “Wednesday.” Director Jade Halley Barlett must have loved her portrayal of Wednesday so much that she made Ortega’s character Cairo into Wednesday 2.0. The voice drawl, the pessimistic attitude, the mannerisms, even down to the signature “Wednesday look” had me wondering if I was watching “Wednesday” or “Miller’s Girl.” I’m pretty sure Ortega has a lot more range than being cast as the “deadpan, goth teenage girl.”

Awkward camera placements, questionable directing choices, and the use of long narratives to overcomplicate the plot make “Miller’s Girl” look like a bad 80’s gothic erotica but, to its credit, its real redeeming feature is the superb acting performances of Ortega and Freeman. The former as a blunt sadist and the latter as a tortured poet? There couldn’t have been a more perfect pairing. The two had a chemistry that felt more organic than forced, something which I have to admit is hard to achieve given the thirty-one-year age difference between the actors.

Contrary to the opinion of critics, you know a film is down on its luck when it scores 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, “Miller’s Girl” is not a bad film per se. It’s just a very questionable one that teethers way too close to the lines of morally inappropriate.

If you’re a radical feminist, please watch something else. If you hate age-gap relationships, watch something else. If imbalanced power play makes you sick, you know the drill.

Release Date: January 26, 2024

Runtime: 1 hour and 34 minutes

Streaming Service: Netflix

Director: Jade Halley Barlett

Cast: Jenna Ortega, Martin Freeman, Dagmara Dominczyk, Bashir Salahuddin, and Gideon Adlon