Educational Media Reviews Online

Coming of age stories can be a difficult genre for film, but Sweetheart finds the balance of good and important storytelling with a believable teenager and family. Stories that take place on summer trips allow for an exploration of self, outside of the regular confines of life at home, and Sweetheart’s protagonist, AJ, has the opportunity to investigate her identity in the familiar environment of the yearly summer trip while having new experiences.

This film has sly British humor throughout, and every character is presented as multi-faceted, with emotional heft. No one is a villain, and no one is a saint. They feel like real people you could meet walking along the street or overhearing at a restaurant. We are just being dropped into a week of their lives, and there are clearly rich backstories and full lives that exist just offscreen.

While this film doesn’t offers any groundbreaking insights on the lesbian experience, it showcases a common story of a family that wants to be supportive without knowing the right way to support, and a young woman trying to figure out how she wants to exist in the world.

Sweetheart would work well in a film course or a gender studies course, at a high school or college level. There is a smattering of in-character homophobia, but it is clear the film does not support homophobia or endorse it.

Awards:
Audience Award, Glasgow Film Festival; Breakthrough Producer - Michelle Antoniades, British Independent Film Awards; Breakthrough Performance - Nell Barlow, British Independent Film Awards; Outstanding Performance – Nell Barlow, L.A. Outfest; International Juried Award, Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival

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