“How old do you
have to be before people start treating you like a person?” asks the lead character, Rynn,
in the 1977 horror movie, The Little
Girl Who Lives Down the Lane.
It’s
a good question, and this vintage movie -- in some oddball fashion -- concerns
how badly the world often treats the most innocent citizens, its children. The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
was released at about the same time, historically-speaking, as genre efforts
such as Who Can Kill a Child? (1978), a horror film which opens with
documentary-footage of real-life atrocities committed against the globe’s
young.
The
Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is also a weird inversion or reflection of the
principles and ideas explored in Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Both films concern a lonely person living
alone in an isolated setting, yet pretending to be in the company of a
parent. Meanwhile, visitors to that
character’s house in both films have a nasty habit of disappearing…permanently.
The
difference, of course, is that Norman Bates is a schizophrenic, murderous
lunatic, and Jodie Foster’s sensitive, young Rynn just wants to be free to live
her life as she chooses. But she
constantly finds her freedom imperiled by representatives of the adult --- and therefore corrupt -- world.
Accordingly,
the film is not really about a girl who trespasses the law and commits crimes,
but an adult world which leaves her no choice but to do so. Even the film’s title, after all, serves to infantilize
her.
The
Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane opens on Halloween, as Rynn celebrates her fourteen
(or thirteenth…) birthday. A man comes to the door trick-or-treating, Frank
Hallet (Sheen), and he is immediately suspicious of Rynn’s isolation. A child predator, he immediately marks her as
a target.
The
next day, Frank’s mother, the cruel and parochial Clara Hallet also marks Rynn
as a target, entering the family home without permission, re-arranging the
furniture, and verbally upbraiding the child for having the wherewithal to
stand up to her bullying. She threatens
to revoke the lease on the house, but Rynn realizes that she is bluffing.
When
Mrs. Hallet accidentally slips and dies on the stairs to the fruit cellar, Rynn
becomes desperate to hide her body, and enlists the help of an unpopular local
boy Mario, to get Hallet’s car off the premises. Mario does so, and he and Rynn
develop a fast friendship. He soon learns
her full, tragic story. Rynn and her father
fled Rynn’s tyrannical mother in England and came to the States. Here, however, her father grew terminally ill,
and arranged for Rynn to be independent, even as he reckoned with his impending
death…
The
Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is an adaptation of Laird Koenig’s novel of the same
name and features a knock-out performance by young Jodie Foster as the isolated
but brilliant, Emily Dickinson-reading adolescent who constantly sees her rights
trampled on by the neighbors, including the aggressive child molester, Frank.
Alarmingly,
the local police know all about Frank’s inappropriate behavior, and do nothing to
stop him or protect the town’s children from his malicious presence. The film makes a point of noting that Frank –
an adult -- is free to do whatever he wishes, despite his perverse tendencies while
Rynn – owing to her youth -- must be incredibly careful about drawing attention
to herself and her predicament.
Frank’s
freedom to corrupt and destroy the innocent is embodied in an expressive image
rendered early in the film. He tracks mud across the pristine wood floor of
Rynn’s living room. Wherever Frank
goes, he tracks that mud. And in the
film’s most horrific scene, another metaphor for destroyed innocence is
visualized. Hallet chokes to death – on camera
-- Rynn’s pet hamster, Gordon.
Besides
visually establishing Frank’s pervasive menace, The Little Girl Who Lives Down
the Lane does a good job of setting up the byzantine rules of Rynn’s everyday
life and world. She lives an existence
of constant subterfuge and misdirection, lest she be discovered. She must constantly
fend off questions from Frank and his Mom. She also talks frequently about her
father, a poet, though he is actually dead. At one point, when things grow
dire, she must even enlist Mario – an expert in disguises – to double for him.
Every
visitor to the house asks Rynn about her parents in virtually ritualistic,
obsessive fashion, and so Rynn is exceedingly good about making up stories and
excuses. If she knows a visitor is due,
she smokes one of her father’s stinky cigars for a while, to grant the impression
that he is nearby.
A
funny and unique quality about The
Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is that the audience understands
that Rynn is constantly lying, and yet very much wants her to succeed and to
live as her (dead) father intended, without the interference of a world that
will dull-her-edges, or otherwise harm her.
The danger arises not just from Frank, but from a life of
institutionalized mediocrity, apparently.
And
yet as adults, the viewer also recognizes that Rynn is very, very young, and
therefore unable to appropriately care for herself.
Accordingly,
The
Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane walks a tight-rope of suspense in
terms of maintaining identification with the lead character even though, on more
than one occasion, Rynn commits murder by poisoning a guest’s cup of tea.
Of
course, in the incident the audience actually witnesses, Rynn has only two
choices. Both are bad ones. She can submit to the will of a sicko child
molester, or kill that child molester.
It’s a pretty clear-cut case of self-defense when she chooses murder. The film’s final scene ratchets up the level
of suspense to a nearly unbearable level as Rynn and Frank sit down
uncomfortably to share tea, and then play a game of psychological chess with
one another.
One
shocking scene in The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane which would never pass
censors’ muster in 2013, reveals Rynn -- just thirteen years old -- making love
to Mario, her boyfriend. The film
features some brief nudity (a body double, not actually Foster), but today it
is shocking to witness, and not necessarily in a good way. Trying
to look at the scene objectively, there is a dramatic motivation for it presence,
which, I suppose is what matters most.
In
particular, the scene plays directly into the primary thematic question raised
by the film: How old do you have to be for people to treat you as a person, one who
can make his or her own decisions?
Well,
our culture holds that legally a person is a child -- and therefore unable to
make responsible decisions for him or herself without a parent -- until the age
of 18.
Yet
Rynn is thirteen (or fourteen, depending on whether she is telling the truth to
Frank…), brilliant, and precocious. She
also knows how she wants to live. Her
father hoped she could live independently until she became eighteen, and left
her a home, rent money, and a joint-savings account to make that dream a
reality.
This is what Rynn wants.
Although
Rynn seems lonely -- in part because of
the film’s emotional piano score, and in part because of all the long,
establishing shots of her walking the beach surf alone -- she also seems
capable of taking care of herself, even though the law insists she can’t do it.
Clearly,
given her circumstances, Rynn is a special case. And balanced against the adults in the film –
the incompetent police man, the bigoted real estate lady, and the pervert – who’s
to say that in this one, single case Rynn can’t, finally, look-out for herself
best?
I
have vivid memories of first seeing The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
as a kid, perhaps as a ten year old, and not fully understanding it all. I remember thinking that Rynn was evil for
what she had done, and for the secrets she kept hidden in that beach house
fruit cellar.
Now
I see, of course, that Rynn is not an evil kid at all (like those in The Bad
Seed or The Good Son) but rather a child just trying to make it in a
very confusing, very adult world. Evil
is in the picture all right, however.
It
keeps ending up on her door step. And Rynn must find ways to deal with it, as
any of us, young or old, might.
As
the end credits rolled on The Little Girl Who Lives Down the
Lane, I wondered about where Rynn might be today, and what, finally,
she became. In some manner, the persistence of that question must be a benchmark for the movie’s
artistic success. By the film’s denouement,
you come to care enough about this fictional character to ponder her future.
What
happened to Rynn when she finally grew up, and no longer had to hide in that
little house down the lane?
Good movie. It was this performance along with his incredible effort in Terrence Malick's Badlands that turned Martin Sheen into one of my favourite actors. He is so chilling to watch here, effortlessly reptilian.
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend the book to anybody that enjoyed the film. The film was actually very faithful to the book, which came first, but there are some key differences, one that is quite major. It was very well written.
ReplyDeleteThe movie has stayed with me ever since I first saw it when I was just a teenager. The entire cast was extraordinary, and I loved the way the film was set almost entirely within a single setting. It felt like a play. In fact, the actual author of the book has adapted a stage version several years ago, and I believe it has been performed a few times, likely as small stage productions.
They could never make a film like that today, especially with some of the scenes they included (the hamster scene - which of course was fake, the bedroom scene - which was actually her older sister filling in). But since this was made in the 70's, the author and director could present the film they felt they wanted to without worrying quite as much about backlash. The film made today just wouldn't be as powerful.
I also think the music was excellent in this. Some of the music had a very 70's groove to it, which I didn't mind, but might turn some people off to it, but the majority of it was beautifully written and fit very well, conveying the loneliness and solitude of the main character.
Thanks for the review! It was nice to hear your take on this film. I agree completely with your assessment - ultimately, the film asks "When does society consider a person an adult, able to make their own decisions?). I too have wondered what became of her and Mario. They still had Mario's uncle to deal with for the foreseeable future, and I wonder how much longer they were able to keep up the charades.
Thank you for this review, especially the interesting contrast with Psycho, it's an interesting point.
ReplyDeleteI think in the end, there's a great sadness in this film. Even though Rynn ultimately triumphs over Frank, she no longer has the confidence that made her lively in the first part of the film. I agree that the ending makes you wonder what will become of her, but looking at her closed, sullen face as she watches Frank die, it's hard to be optimistic. Sure, she can probably confront most of life's challenges, but it takes an emotional toll on her.
Martin Sheen is really very poor in this.
ReplyDelete