The Bearded Girl Review
The Bearded Girl (2025) Film Review from the 29th Annual Fantasia Film Festival, a movie directed by Jody Wilson, written by Blake Barrie, Thiago Gadelha and Jody Wilson starring Anwen O’Driscoll, Jessica Paré, Skylar Radzion, Ava Anton, Jude Wilson, Linden Porco, Keenan Tracey, Betty Jackson, and Toby Hargrave.
Working within the confines of a film genre allows writers and directors the opportunity to create something fresh and new while at the same time following the guardrails already established in the genre in question. In the case of Jody Wilson’s directorial debut (for which she also earned a screenwriting credit), The Bearded Girl takes the coming-of-age film and retrofits it into the world of the circus and offers a new vision on a tale as old as time.
The Bearded Girl follows lead character Cleopatra Nightengale (Anwen O’Driscoll in a really strong performance) as she is raised by her matriarchal mother, Lady Andre (Jessica Paré), who carries on many generations of bearded women before her by running the circus in town. This isn’t your local church-run carnival. This is a true-blue circus, calling to mind classic films like Tod Browning’s frighteningly brilliant 1932 Freaks or either adaptation of Nightmare Alley. It’s not a profession; it’s a lifestyle.
Unlike her sister, Josephine (Skylar Radzion,) Cleo has inherited the bearded gene and begins sprouting hair as a young girl. Despite her mother’s enthusiasm, Cleo is not interested in carrying on the family lineage of being a circus performer. She has other questions and desires, like who her father is and what the outside world is like. Think Lady Bird but with circus performers and bearded women instead of Sacramento and a jaded Laurie Metcalf. Desire is a powerful drug and after Lady Andre disregards Cleo’s inventive ideas for tired sword-swallowing acts and such, Cleo hits the road in search of something more. But it’s her past and family history manifesting itself in the form of a speedy-growing beard that she cannot run away from.
Wilson’s debut is a quirky story that might be held at arm’s length for the first few scenes of the film. While the direction and cinematography are exceptionally well conducted throughout the entirety of the film, some of the performances didn’t quite gel at first. In particular, Lady Andre and Cleo’s early struggles come off as tedious parental scuffling with fake beards applied to each actress, but once the world of the movie is established and we begin following Cleo on her path of self-realization and adulthood, the tropes of the genre meld with Wilson’s vision seamlessly. The need to rebel and that constant yearning for something more, something outside our small towns (or circus tents), has plagued the minds of youths for as long as we’ve been in existence.
The Bearded Girl is exceptionally patient, and that isn’t a jab; it’s a compliment. Wilson isn’t interested in shock value or exploiting its carnival performers. On the contrary, we don’t get enough of the background “freaks” in this film, who tend to steal most of the scenes of the film they appear in, especially Newton (Linden Porco), who plays Lady Andre’s right-hand man. Cleo’s family are the performers she was raised by, but the script keeps the focus on the push and pull between mother and daughter, which tends to slip into the more generic genre rules that Wilson is toying with.
The true strength of The Bearded Girl lies in its photographic compositions and cinematography. For her feature-length debut, Wilson worked with cinematographer François Dagenais, who has dozens of credits to their name, including some episodes of the hit television show Yellowjackets. That blend of fresh filmmaker and seasoned cinematographer lent itself wonderfully to the gorgeous shots captured on screen. The colors are lush and textured and it’s clear the crew spent many hours composing and framing each shot to make the most of the film’s modest budget.
The Bearded Girl is a film that is able to show the audience something new in a genre that we’ve already seen before. And while there are lulls along the way and the pacing stumbles here and there, Wilson did a commendable job executing the film she set out to create.
Rating: 6/10
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