Welcome to the Dollhouse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the 1995 film. For the Danity Kane album, see Welcome to the Dollhouse (album).
Welcome to the Dollhouse

Welcome to the Dollhouse poster
Directed by Todd Solondz
Produced by Todd Solondz
Written by Todd Solondz
Starring Heather Matarazzo
Matthew Faber
Daria Kalinina
Brendon Sexton Jr.
Eric Mabius
Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics
Columbia TriStar (video)
Release date(s) September 10 1995 (TIFF)
May 24 1996 (USA)
October 8, 1996 (AUS)
Running time 90 min.
Language English
Budget $800,000 US (est.)

Welcome to the Dollhouse is a 1995 coming of age black comedy. An independent film, it launched the careers of Todd Solondz and Heather Matarazzo.[1]

Contents

[edit] Plot

Dawn Wiener (Matarazzo) is a shy, unattractive, unpopular 7th grader in a middle-class suburban community in New Jersey. Her older brother Mark (Faber) is a nerdy high schooler who plays clarinet in a garage band and shuns girls in order to prepare for college. Her younger sister Missy (Kalinina) is a pretty little girl who pesters her and dances happily in a ballerina outfit. Their mother (Pietropinto) is a shrewish woman who dotes on Missy and always sides with her in disputes with Dawn. Dawn's only friend is an effeminate fifth-grade boy named Ralphy (DeFresco), with whom she shares a dilapidated clubhouse in her back yard.

Dawn's life in junior high school is miserable: Her classmates call her names and cover her locker with derisive graffiti, cheerleaders call her a lesbian, a teacher unfairly keeps her after school, another girl forces her to use the toilet while the girl watches, and she is threatened with rape by a bully named Brandon McCarthy (Sexton), who has almost as much trouble socializing as she does. Her attempts to take out her frustrations only get her into trouble: At home, her mother punishes her for calling Missy a lesbian and refusing to be nice to her; at school, she accidentally hits a teacher in the eye with a spitball.

Dawn mesmerized over Steve's playing.

Brandon's first attempt to rape Dawn fails, but he orders her to meet him again. After she presents herself to him and he takes her to an abandoned field, he starts an earnest conversation and only kisses her, even though she is obviously willing. Meanwhile, Mark's band is joined by Steve Rodgers (Mabius), a cool, handsome boy who intends to become a rock star. Dawn immediately falls in love with him, and she decides to pursue him romantically after he spends some time with her, even though one of his former girlfriends explained to her that she has no chance.

As the film continues, Dawn and Brandon treat each other ambivalently: He bonds with her in her clubhouse only after another girl rejects him, and Dawn pursues him only after Steve rejects her. Toward the end of the film, Brandon is expelled from school for suspected drug dealing and, after kissing Dawn, runs away to avoid being sent to military school. After angrily rejecting Ralphy, Dawn is left with no friends at all.

Meanwhile, the next occasion of Dawn's embarrassment is a lawn party to celebrate her parents' anniversary. When she refuses to tear down her clubhouse to make room for the party, her mother has Mark and Missy destroy it and gives them her share of a chocolate cake. At the party, Steve plays with Missy and Missy pushes Dawn into a kiddie pool. That evening, the family watches a videotape of the party, laughing when Dawn falls into the water; later that night, Dawn smashes the tape to pieces and briefly brandishes her hammer over Missy as she sleeps.

Dawn's ultimate disaster occurs when her father's car breaks down and her mother has to pick him up. Dawn is to tell Missy to find a ride home from ballet class while their mother is away. However, Missy argues with Dawn, who retaliates by not telling her, with the result that Missy is kidnapped. When Missy's tutu is found in Times Square, Dawn goes there to find her, and when she phones home, Missy has been found and their mother is too preoccupied to even notice Dawn's absence. After this, Dawn's classmates make fun of her as she gives a speech in the assembly hall, and Mark offers her no hope of a better life until high school. The film ends as Dawn obediently joins other students singing the school anthem during a field trip.

[edit] Critical acclaim

The film was a surprise success, considering it was a relatively low budget, independently produced film. It garnered critical praise for its nail biting view of a pre-teen outcast, and won the Grand Jury Prize for best dramatic feature at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. Critic Roger Ebert has been vocal about his love for the film, giving it four stars out of four and placing it at number five on his "Best of 1996" list.[2]

[edit] References to the film

  • In 2004, Solondz made a sequel, Palindromes, which begins with the words "In Loving Memory of Dawn Wiener," and opens with her funeral, revealing that Dawn went to college, gained a lot of weight and committed suicide.
  • The conclusion to the song "Leave the Light On," by Lagwagon, on their album "Let's Talk About Feelings", is a sample from Welcome to the Dollhouse.
  • In Nicole Richie's novel The Truth About Diamonds, the protagonist lists Welcome to the Dollhouse as one of her favorite movies.
  • A season-six episode of Gilmore Girls is named after the movie.
  • Danity Kane has an album with the title Welcome to the Dollhouse

[edit] Cast

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250081/
  2. ^ Roger Ebert's Top Ten Lists 1967-2006

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
The Brothers McMullen		 Sundance Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
1996		 Succeeded by
Sunday
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_the_Dollhouse"