It is a story that goes far beyond portraying a distressing adolescence, with serious problems dealing with changes in one's own body, added to the constant feeling of incomprehension and the latent threat of bullying, especially for those who enter an environment late. Hostile. To make matters worse, her parents' distance and the fear of not truly being her daughter increase her anxiety even more. This is, broadly speaking, the skeleton of a life completely removed from the comfort zone of childhood, which slips down the drain, along with the friendly landscapes we call home. In the new setting, the entire film is tinged with a persistent blue, which is the color of sadness in Germanic languages, and the color of the sky reflected in the sea that licks its wounds (or in the lake waves, in the Swiss context). The metaphorical saying of the fish out of water turns into a mermaid. And of the beasts, for among all these beautiful corals, predators abound, and it's better to be a shark than their snack.
In addition to all this, "Blue My Mind" (Lisa Brühlmann, 2017) exposes the different cultural strata of a Switzerland that, despite all the economic amenities and quality of life it has, and despite democratic progressivism and political correctness and ways in which it is recognized, it is not free from an important sedimentation of social prejudices and a very sexist residue. Furthermore, within the entire rich tapestry of harmful behaviors that we find in the film, capitalism is directly pointed out as the source of origin and perpetuation of disorders such as anxiety, depression, rejection phobia, marginalization and the large number of children (from families economically accommodated) neglected because work is the priority. Maintaining socioeconomic status is fundamental and unquestionable. And this characteristic is closely linked to the proliferation of emotional and psychiatric disorders that are also being triggered by capitalist voracity in our society. Therefore, the film, among many other claims, also echoes the stigmatization of mental health failures. And not just because of a true condition, but sometimes because of hasty diagnoses of mental illnesses, made very lightly.
Continuing with the wide range of denunciations of this terrible and disturbing tale, we are faced with serious scenes that are not just shouting at a "simple" problem of sexism. It is something much worse: an extremely worrying and premature sexualization of minors, something that we cannot recognize as endemic only in the country, but widespread throughout the world. Although it is important to note that, as additional information, the Swiss Society of Pediatrics, in collaboration with the University of Lausanne, conducted in 2018 (remembering that this film was released just a year earlier) a survey on the number of recorded child abuse cases in recent decades in Swiss hospitals, covering its various forms: physical, psychological and sexual violence. Each year, between 900 and 1,500 situations related to this terrible spectrum were reported, of which the percentages occupied by rape cases varied between 17.7% and 25.2% - sometimes decreasing, sometimes increasing. And this in the most affluent Europe. This is something very serious.
Mia embodies the sexual awakening between true curiosity and extreme objectification, which leads her, like many (and many) teenagers, to seek validation through promiscuity and daring with drugs and other absurd risk situations. Her aquarium is a brutal, cruel, deep-sea ecosystem in which pretending to be a predator to avoid bullying can lead her to organically transform into it. But on the other hand, beneath all those scales with which she bristles to protect herself, there is great confusion. Sometimes, a real interest in pleasure, in feeling; one, the search for sexual orientation, even possible bisexuality (increased risk of stigma, and in close contact with the shame of the promiscuous among the promiscuous). And the pressure on the body and its behavior never relaxes, not even in supposedly adult environments: from the man on the dating app who justifies his own perverse desire with the ages defined by legal consent, to a horrific scene clearly condemning a herd of thirty-something rap*sts - taken on this occasion to a party with teenagers -, Lisa Brühlmann leaves no stone unturned when it comes to reviewing the disgusting culprits behind the existence of scary stories like Little Red Riding Hood. And her iconography is palpable in the most grotesque scene, with an aesthetic delicacy that makes Mia's youthful face and red lips stand out in a darkness that would be a beautiful photographic result if something as pornographic and violent didn't invade her. Undertaking this scene is something extremely risky for the filmmaker, and it was resolved in an impressive way, due to its impact and the delicacy at the same time with its protagonist despite the sordidness of what she narrates.
The main question that remains is: where are the adults? Teachers don't seem to serve any purpose other than sustaining stigma. The sports-obsessed mother only seems to reinforce the rejection of one's own body and the changes resulting from puberty, with eating disorders suggested and linked in a very interesting way to the fantastic transformation. But these are changes that can also be linked to possible venereal diseases and even something psychosomatic. In any case, the growing viscerally in the relationship between them illustrates the rupture of the mother-daughter bond, the refusal to follow the maternal model of woman or even the feeling of betrayal when suspecting being adopted and the abandonment syndrome that this implies. The father, out of the picture, is an absent father. His voice is as if passing by, but it doesn't calm down. Don't stop, don't care and don't share. There is no real emotional bond. It's a spectrum. He punctually carries out tasks such as taking his daughter in the car and she stays in the back seat, as she is still a child. And he is a man with an important position, hence his impeccable suit and upscale family cabin. He is a businessman, hardened to work. For her, it's a backrest, the one in the driver's seat. He directs, he commands. He only shows his face when the time comes to impose authority, repression, threat of punishment. A punishment in the form of a threat to resume therapy. Is there anything less therapeutic than turning this resource into a threat?
However, another interesting point of the film is the display of the apparently paradoxical contrast between the need for care at home and the need to exist in the school environment, but also to disappear. Lots of changes, lots of pressure. The pool, swimming, water and their pacifying effect allude to home (to what was lost in the move, but also to amniotic fluid: the peace of being safe in the womb of the biological mother, as if underlining the nostalgia for the simplicity of childhood, but also due to the hidden possibility of adoption). The story takes on a dramatic stance until at least halfway through the film. Fantastic details are nothing more than mere details, which makes them easily understood as reality. Mia's constant confusion is well portrayed both in her performance and in the way the film was conducted. The film's photography, commendable by the way, makes a point of using bluish tones throughout. And the chosen color tries to represent precisely this sea of ideas, in which there is no critical or judgmental look.
Fantasy stops being an interesting aspect of the film when it is confused, in a poorly executed way, with reality. Mia's external transformation, which happens exactly after her first menstruation, loses strength in the context of the film from the moment it begins to present her as a freak. The idea of an internal change reflecting an external one is well thought out, but ends up sinning when it is configured as supernatural. While the film subtly shows what Mia is becoming, whether through the joining of her toes or the uncontrollable desire to eat live fish, she manages to capture the viewer's attention and even "trick" those who are more inattentive.
This is one of those films that hits the viewer in the chest. All the more so as many women will be able to see themselves reflected, if not literally in the experiences of their protagonist, in some bad decisions or simply in the barrage of changes and aggressive external factors. Even bordering on destructive at a time as sensitive as adolescence. "Blue My Mind" is a good drama, despite some errors. It gets the art direction and much of the drama right, even if it leaves some questions open. It portrays adolescence in a crude way, while at the same time not straying from reality. It can also be a good fantasy, after all, it gives clues throughout the film about the mystical character that Mia transforms into. But it's not a good composition of drama and fantasy. Once the symbolic transformation is accomplished and becomes literal, there is no going back.