Actress Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut is based on the eponymous autobiographical novel by US writer Lidia Yuknavitch. In it she writes about the sexual abuse in her childhood, of the discover of words, and of water as escape. Of drugs, self-destruction, relationships. Self-healing and an encounter in a writing seminar with Ken Kesey – the author of “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.” Stewart wraps the narrative in dream-like images. Close-ups, 16 mm footage, reflections, quick cuts. She uses all of the tools in the analog film toolbox, but uses it in a cautious enough way so it still seems thoughtful and not overwhelming. You quickly finds yourself drawn into the vortex of the intense visual worlds and the poetic yet painful narration in the background. Literature programs. Parties. The discovery of one’s own sexuality. The loss of a child. Swimming as a metaphor for her life. Lidia honestly and movingly connects the dots in her biography.

Of course, a Hollywood great like Kristen Stewart can gather valued colleagues around her and so the cast is simply very good. Kim Gordon makes an appearance. Jim Belushi, as the life-loving Kesey, looks as sly and lost under his fishing hat as one might imagine an aging hippie author to be. Kesey and Lidia have wonderful moments of intimacy and exhale that break up the stream of stylistic devices and put the focus on the characters. Imogen Poots gives her Lidia a loud, impetuous laugh, with which she heroically navigates through all the highs and lows, without overdoing it. A powerful adaptation of autofictional literature that draws on the complexity of its source material and the language of cinema.

Clarissa Lempp

Translation: Elinor Lewy