The Best Coming-of-Age Film!
By Chantal Chable Urgiles ('25)
The 2012 indie coming-of-age movie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is the best coming-of-age movie I’ve seen so far. The movie is set in the 1920's and follows a high school freshman navigating the world and trying to fit in with his peers. He struggles to connect with other students until two misfit seniors decide to take him under their wing and show him how to find himself. This movie was based on a novel written by Stephen Chbosky, who also stepped in to direct this film. The Perks of Being a Wallflower handles a lot of heavy topics such as abuse, violence, PTSD, sexual assault, and suicide. I believe that these heavy topics can make people turn away or dislike this movie without giving it a chance. However, I believe these topics make the movie much more realistic. Our protagonist, fifteen-year-old Charlie, played by Logan Lerman, who suffers from PTSD and has spent the last summer in a psychiatric hospital after his friend commits suicide.
The movie opens with Charlie writing a letter to an anonymous “friend” who’s never named, discussing his upcoming first day in high school. On his first day, he’s bullied and harassed by classmates, and ends up befriending his English teacher, Mr. Anderson. Later on, Charlie attends a homecoming football game alone and notices Patrick, played by Ezra Miller, who he recognizes as the senior in his wood-shop class. Patrick asks Charlie to sit with him and is soon joined by Patrick's step-sister, Sam played by Emma Watson whose performance was amazing in this movie. In an instant, Charlie is intrigued by her beauty. Upon arriving home, he witnesses his sister, Candace, get slapped by her boyfriend, something Charlie is especially sensitive to since their Aunt Helen was also abused in relationships.
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The character Aunt Helen is not seen in present time, but only in Charlie's flashbacks. She was a troubled woman who was close with Charlie. It’s later revealed that Aunt Helen abused Charlie as a child. She has a recurring role in Charlie's memories, almost like a ghost of his repressed trauma that continues to haunt him.
Photo courtesy of The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Charlie decides to go to the homecoming dance and spends time with Patrick and Sam, who takes him to a party afterwards, and introduces him to their other friends, Bob, Mary Elizabeth, and Alice. While under the influence of a pot brownie, he goes to the kitchen for Sam to make him a milkshake. While sipping on his shake, he confesses to Sam about his best friend Michael shooting himself last May. Trying to find a bathroom, he goes upstairs and sees Patrick and Brad, the school's star football player, kissing. Charlie, while high, promises to keep it a secret. Sam discusses with Patrick what Charlie’s been through and welcomes him into their friend group.
At the Sadie Hawkins dance, Charlie dances with Mary Elizabeth, and after kissing she decides to make Charlie her boyfriend, even though Charlie isn’t into her romantically (but doesn’t voice it). After a while of dating, Charlie and Mary Elizabeth break up after an awkward situation of Charlie kissing Sam when asked to kiss the prettiest girl in the room. As a result, Charlie has to stop hanging out with the friend group due to the tension. However, when a fight breaks out between Patrick and the jocks, Charlie jumps in to protect him, and is accepted back into the group. Even though Charlie is excited to be reunited with his friends, the spring is bittersweet, because all of his friends are seniors and will be moving on to college, whereas Charlie will remain behind in high school.
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Unnerved as Sam packs up to leave for college, Charlie goes back to his empty home, and begins to have a breakdown, having flashbacks of his Aunt Helen. He calls his sister, Candace, rambling that it's his fault that Aunt Helen died and that there might’ve been a part of him who wanted her to die. Candace tells her friends to call 911 and send them to their house.
Before Charlie can do anything, the police arrive and he blacks out. He wakes up in the hospital to a physician. A few weeks after Charlie is discharged from the hospital, Sam and Patrick visit him and take him to their favorite restaurant. They once again drive into the tunnel from the beginning of the movie, and Sam tells Charlie that she has finally found the song that was playing the last time they were there. This time, Charlie stands up through the sunroof after kissing Sam, and screams as they exit the tunnel.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a movie that does well in representing mental illnesses and how they can affect people. The movie talks about mental health while also being able to capture the high school experience with love, abuse, happiness, and friendships. The movie shows these groups of teenagers trying to find and discover who they are and who they want to be. There are also short moments that seem small, but are meaningful like the tunnel scene.
When Sam, Patrick, and Charlie are driving through the tunnel in the last scene of the movie, Charlie standing through the sunroof instead of Sam, as the wind ruffles his hair, he realizes he’s finally reached the moment where he belongs and where he truly believes he is '''infinite." The tunnel represents Charlie's growth throughout the film. But keep in mind, the relatability of this movie depends on your high school experience and how you view it. There is so much more this movie has to offer and while I can't even express how good this movie is, I highly recommend you give it a watch. Lastly, I’d like to end off with my favorite quote from this movie, "We accept the love we think we deserve."
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Banner courtesy of Our Culture Magazine
Photo courtesy of Western Washington University