By ATRIA PACAÑA
Warning: This review contains major spoilers and the discussion of the movie’s mature language.
“Bakit ang hirap maging mabuting tao, ma?”
Asia’s Box Office Superstar Kathryn Bernardo tries to answer this question in Petersen Vargas’ newest dark comedy film titled, “A Very Good Girl” which opened in cinemas last September 27.
Her character Philomena Angeles, or Philo, is an orphaned hustler who grapples with her self in a journey towards the answer to that question as she takes revenge on the all-powerful Molly Suzara (played by Golden Globes Best Supporting Actress Nominee Dolly de Leon whose acting never disappoints), the founder of a retail business. She questions her guilt, loathing, wrath, bloodlust, and how all of these contribute to her morality as she tries to dismantle Molly and her multi-million empire, unintentionally harming other people in the way. Is she an angel (her last name Angeles a nod), a good person who has simply been dealt with bad cards? Is she deep down a bad person attempting to convince herself she’s good? Is she somehow neither, both, or fluctuating?
Bernardo gives an outstanding performance. Her striking presence on screen works through an eyebrow raise and a pursed mouth, showing how much of a viper Philo is. Kathryn may be more known for happy-go-lucky roles like Chichay in “Got to Believe” (to which there was easter egg in the film) and Alisson in “2 Good 2 Be True,” but it seems she conjured the spirit of her earlier type of roles: snobbish and sassy from her “Super Inggo” (2006) days as Maya.
But Philo is more than that: it’s a front for someone else. While the fashionista influencer Philo is strong, competent, calculated, and doesn’t let people trample over her. She is merely a persona. Her real name is Mercedes “Mercy” Novela, a driven but timid employee of Molly’s but was fired. Mercy once looked up to Molly, and in the cruel way she was fired like garbage, the idol image shattered.
Which is why one of the central figures is an idol — a god, a deity who holds the authority figure, like a mother.
Mother is used throughout the story several times and in several ways: both Philo and Molly’s moms, themselves as characters who have power, connections, and money, the Catholic imagery of Mama Mary, and even in the profanities.
But for all the excellent non-linear storytelling, the perfect use of dutch angles for Mercy’s spiraling or blue lighting to signal Mercy’s mother Conchita (Angel Aquino) being good almost to a fault, and “The Devil Wears Prada” dynamic of the two leads, unfortunately there is still a flaw.
The ending.
It felt like it didn’t exactly know what it wanted, or more accurately, that it didn’t want to scare the mainstream audience away. If this was an indie film, Philo would have actually killed Molly in that moment of choking her.
Granted, the choice at least makes sense when connected to the question that Philo has been trying to answer the whole film — that she arrives with the answer of: she is a bad person but she’s trying to be good — but you can tell the director didn’t want to take a risk.
Instead, the ending fell on the cliche of the protagonist not killing the villain because she didn’t want to stoop to the villain’s level of low, that she didn’t want to be just like the villain.
Yes, the factor of a woman sabotaging and killing another woman makes the situation more complex and gray, but “AVGG” makes it a point of Philo becoming just like Molly so she refuses to kill her in the end. It’s a tired trope in media. Vengeful marginalized characters deserve to overthrow the elite and ruling class, even if it meant making harsh sacrifices and going through the unbecoming of the self. This film could have been the one film brave enough to push the moral boundary.
Nevertheless, “A Very Good Girl” remains realistic with its commentary on sex, the justice system, and the class struggle. The rich stay on top because as stated by Molly Suzara, when life is a bitch to them, they become the bigger bitch.
Score: 3.5 black floor-length haute couture gowns out of 5.
