Identity Is a Balancing Act, Onstage and Off

Read Time:5 Minute, 41 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
The Bearded Girl
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Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director(s): Jody Wilson
Writer(s): Blake Barrie, Thiago Gadelha, Jody Wilson
Cast: Anwen O'Driscoll, Jessica Paré, Skylar Radzion, Ava Anton, Jude Wilson, Keenan Tracey, Linden Porco, Toby Hargrave, Austin Trapp, Harrison Browne, Kendall Gender, Winson Won
Where to Watch: shown at the 2025 Fantasia Film Festival

RAVING REVIEW: THE BEARDED GIRL may sound like the setup for something whimsical, but what it delivers instead is a stripped-down, emotionally honest coming-of-age story about the weight of legacy, the longing for normalcy, and the cost of pretending to be something you’re not—even if that something was working just fine for everyone else.

Writer-director Jody Wilson draws directly from personal experience in crafting a story that, while rooted in a fictional roadside circus community, feels lived-in and grounded. There’s no magic here—no whimsical creatures or heightened over-the-top fantasy elements. The film’s unusual backdrop isn’t the point; it’s the pressure that comes with being born into a world that defines you before you know who you are.

Cleo (Anwen O'Driscoll), the young woman at the heart of the film, is poised to inherit the role of “The Bearded Woman,” a respected position within her tight-knit community of sideshow performers. For her mother, this path is destiny. For Cleo, it feels more like a sentence. The film begins at the tipping point—Cleo’s decision to walk away, to explore life outside the tents and trailers, to see if there’s something more for her than performing a version of herself for curious strangers.

What follows is less a tale of escape and more one of reinvention. Cleo ends up in a nearby farm town, far removed from the sideshow life, where she attempts to blend in by creating a false origin story and keeping her past hidden. It’s a classic setup—someone from the margins trying to pass for “normal”—but the writing here sidesteps cliché by allowing Cleo’s discomfort to be subtle, her lies small and awkward rather than dramatic or easily unraveled.

The new town doesn’t offer a fresh start so much as a temporary hiding place. Cleo is still the same person beneath her newfound exterior, and the film doesn’t rush her realization that performance isn’t limited to the circus. There’s performance in small talk, in trying to pass as someone who fits in, choosing silence when your truth would only confuse or repel. Cleo is still being watched—just not by an audience that paid admission.

Wilson keeps the tone low-key, never pushing for overplayed drama. The film’s power lies in its restraint. Dialogue is often loaded with the weight of what’s unsaid. Relationships form slowly, sometimes haphazardly, and no one behaves like they’ve read the script in advance. Even when secrets begin to leak, the reactions feel painfully real—equal parts confusion, hurt, and a desperate attempt to keep things hidden as they pour out.

That style extends to the visuals. There’s nothing overly theatrical here. The world feels tactile—muddy boots, handheld mirrors, secondhand jackets. Whether in the tents of Cleo’s former life or the sun-faded barns of her new surroundings, everything feels worn, lived-in, and real. The camera lingers just long enough on the details, letting the textures of each space tell as much of a story as the characters themselves.

There’s a clear line of generational tension that runs throughout, particularly in Cleo’s strained relationship with her mother. Wilson never paints her mother as a villain. She’s proud, strong, and terrified of change—especially when it means losing her daughter to a world that has never welcomed people like them. It’s a portrait of pressure that feels both specific and universal: the pain of loving someone who wants something you can never have, and the fear that they’ll reject not just the path you laid out, but you.

THE BEARDED GIRL also deserves credit for how it handles gender and identity. There are queer storylines here, but they aren’t the centerpiece—they exist naturally within the fabric of the story. Cleo’s experience isn’t reduced to a message, and none of the supporting characters are flattened into stand-ins for ideas. It’s a film about identity without preaching about it. Everyone’s figuring themselves out, but that’s just part of life.

The narrative doesn’t rush toward catharsis, and the resolution is intentionally ambiguous. Wilson seems less interested in closure than in observation, watching how Cleo navigates these worlds that each want her to fit a mold. For those who appreciate nuance and restraint, it’s quite powerful.

THE BEARDED GIRL doesn’t reinvent the coming-of-age story, but it doesn’t need to. Its strength lies in its authenticity, its refusal to turn difference into novelty, and its understanding that growing up isn’t about choosing who you are—it’s about accepting that no version of yourself will make everyone else comfortable. It’s a film for anyone who’s ever tried to disappear, only to find that some parts of you refuse to be hidden.

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[photo courtesy of ANAMORPHIC MEDIA, GOODBYE PRODUCTIONS, PAST LIVES]

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