The Starling Girl (2023) on Netflix
In a Christian fundamentalist community in Kentucky, 17-year-old Jem Starling dances with her church's troupe. She is drawn to Owen, the pastor's son, who has returned from missionary work.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb6.7/104,254 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
Jem Starling, 17, has grown up in a Christian fundamentalist community in Kentucky, where her parents Paul and Heidi want her to set an example for her four younger siblings. Her own interest is dance, and she performs with her church's dance troupe. Owen, the 28-year-old son of the pastor, has come back to the community after missionary work in Puerto Rico with his wife, Misty. When the troupe may disband because it has no leader, Jem asks Owen, who oversees church programs, to name her its leader, and he agrees. Jem's crush on him grows, and she looks for ways to be near him. Members of the congregation criticize her dancing as vanity, while Owen supports it.
Cast
Show all 15 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Starling Girl (2023)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Writer-director Laurel Parmet drew the story from research she did in Oklahoma on Christian fundamentalist communities, where a woman who had had an affair with a church authority member was blamed instead of him.
- Parmet also drew on a relationship she had as a teenager, saying she wanted to look back at her own experience in a world that, while extreme and specific, has much in common with the wider culture.
