The Starling Girl
Bleecker Street | Release Date: May 12, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The PlaylistJason BaileyJan 22, 2023
This is a movie that barely speaks above a whisper, even when its characters are howling in pain inside. Read full review
91
ColliderMaggie BoccellaJan 25, 2023
The Starling Girl is steeped with empathy, not just for Jem, but for every young woman, religious or not, who struggles to know herself and gives in to the desire to be seen, no matter the voyeur — just to feel alive, and like they matter. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterJourdain SearlesJan 25, 2023
One of the smartest things about Parmet’s film is the way it portrays internalized misogyny in her female characters. The Starling Girl is a complex, often disturbing portrait of the way women have been pressured to shrink themselves and pass on that shame to their daughters. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMonica CastilloMay 12, 2023
The Starling Girl is so effective because it feels so specific to the character Parmet creates but remains accessible to people who haven’t shared her experience. The film is rich in detail, both in the sense of what it’s like growing up in a very religious community and what teenage rebellion looks like when just acting like an individual is enough to earn a stern talking to from an elder. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJan 22, 2023
The power of this sensitive and devilishly detailed coming-of-age drama is rooted in the friction that it finds between biblical paternalism and modern personhood. Read full review
80
Screen DailyNikki BaughanJan 22, 2023
Scanlen effectively embodies her character’s internal struggles, unable to vocalise her growing frustrations lest she forfeit her purity — which is seemingly her only value. Read full review
80
Screen RantPatrice WitherspoonJan 22, 2023
Even in the most discomforting moments, director Parmet finds a way to delicately balance morally complex issues. The Starling Girl, even with its unsettling themes about abuse, is a triumphant effort about finding love within. Read full review
80
TheWrapKatie WalshJan 22, 2023
Parmet’s strong script and surety behind the camera navigate the audience through this complicated story of religion and sexuality, patriarchy and power, brought to eerily accurate life by the ensemble of excellent actors. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfMay 17, 2023
Parmet’s ability to repackage a story that oftentimes can feel exploitative and gritty through a more mature and compassionate lens is quite sincere – a challenging film that’s worth the effort. Read full review
78
Paste MagazineTara Bennett May 11, 2023
Scanlen’s searing performance elevates The Starling Girl from just being a familiar story into something far more interesting and compelling. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 31, 2023
This is a movie that lets us understand the foibles and dark underpinnings of a movement that seems to have transcended removing itself from “this world’s” everyday concerns to embracing the ugliest elements of its dogma — superstition, dogmatic intolerance, “control” and a disregard for any American or American institution that doesn’t fit their myopic worldview. Read full review
75
Original-CinThom ErnstMay 18, 2023
The Starling Girl is a film that highlights remarkable performances in a story that travels down familiar territory. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayMay 16, 2023
As a portrait of a young woman testing the limits of the shame-based system that has controlled her, The Starling Girl plays like a warmer, more radiant companion piece to last year’s “Women Talking." Read full review
75
Boston GlobeGlenn KennyMay 16, 2023
To her great credit (and one must also mention the production design by Mollie Wartell, and the low-key but on occasion lush cinematography by Brian Lannin), Parmet here creates an environment that feels lived-in, and portrays it without condescension. And Scanlen’s detailed work keeps the movie emotionally credible. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineRoss McIndoeMay 7, 2023
The film is an impressively complicated and compassionate drama about shame and desire. Read full review
75
SlashfilmBen PearsonJan 22, 2023
While this movie's story may sound familiar — it's about a religious teenage girl's sexual awakening in a stuffy community that would rather never address such things — its success is dependent on its execution, and writer/director Laurel Parmet, in her feature directorial debut, hits every target she aims for along the way. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMay 12, 2023
The Starling Girl doesn’t always hold our attention, mainly due to an occasionally shaggy pace that forgets we’re often ahead of the plot. There are also two endings: one built on a choice of Jem’s that’s incredibly stirring and naturally tense, but then a subsequent scene with music and dance that reads more like something scripted to be a meaningful bookend. Read full review
70
The New York TimesNatalia WinkelmanMay 11, 2023
A tender tale, The Starling Girl twirls through a spate of clichés — many surround Jem’s relationship to her alcoholic father, Paul (Jimmi Simpson) — but sticks the landing thanks to Parmet’s rapt attention to the shifting desires of her central character. Read full review
60
The GuardianAdrian HortonJan 22, 2023
The Starling Girl, anchored by a bristling performance from the always solid Scanlen, is at its best when it hews to the combustible suspense of a teenage girl glimpsing her own instincts – for honesty, for autonomy, and most threateningly for pleasure. Read full review
58
The Film StageMichael FrankJan 22, 2023
There’s not necessarily anything new in Parmet’s script, despite her care towards this character of Jem. The film lacks surprise, and in this case, is missing a level of engagement. Read full review
More From This Movie

78 Critic Reviews

6.0 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 71 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL