You’d think that a fairy tale about a family of sideshow freaks that premieres at Fantasia would be squarely in horror territory, especially when you consider that it features at least one bloody ritual.But in writer-director Jody Wilson’s debut feature, The Bearded Girl, there is a clear mandate to do the unexpected thing at every turn and challenge your expectations of what a set of characters, particularly our leads Cleopatra (Anwen O’Driscoll) and her mother Lady Andre (Jessica Paré) should be. This is, in fact, the central theme of The Bearded Girl writ large.
As part of a multi-generational line of bearded women who perform in a circus sideshow with a sword-swallowing act, Lady Andre maintains the family tradition by keeping the performance the same as it’s always been, much to the chagrin of her heir apparent, Cleo. Cleo, like Lady Andre, possesses a magnificent beard but her sister Josephine (Skylar Radzion) does not. This fact causes Lady Andre to put tremendous pressure on Cleo to continue the legacy of the show in exactly the same form it’s always been carried out, even though Cleo desperately wants to modernize it. Beardless Josephine is far more openly rebellious and is afforded the freedom to carve her own path without being pressured to perform, and this causes understandable jealousy and resentment from Cleo towards her sister.
Cleo eventually has enough and decides to leave both her family and the land on which the circus takes place, and such begins what would be a fairly rote coming-of-age drama if not for the whole beard thing. Cleo happens upon a dairy farm where she insinuates into the life of a farmhand whom she asks to pose as her father while she attempts to reboot her life as a clean-shaven “normal” girl with a new fiance. At the same time, back at the carnival, Lady Andre and her troupe are under the threat of takeover from local business tycoon “Dick” Sutherland (Jeff Gladstone) due to Lady Andre’s inability to name Cleo as her heir.
Cleo eventually learns that her beard is an important way to figure out who loves her for her, who loves her true self, hair and all. It’s a hard but common story in teenage coming-of-age films, but the twist of context that the carnival environment provides gives it a deliciously fresh and unexpected look and feel. Additionally, the dialogue is quite stilted – though not as much as you’d expect in a movie like this – with an element of twee quirkiness. At times it almost feels like an episode of ‘Gilmore Girls’, with a healthy dose of dry humour. It never gets all that dark, and that’s to the film’s benefit as it puts forth resonant themes of self-love and the acceptance of those that are different from us.
If I have a criticism, it’s that The Bearded Girl leaves a lot of characters and themes behind as it tells Cleo and Andre’s parallel stories. Dwarf Newton (Linden Porco), Toby Hargrave’s Harold, and even Gladstone’s “Dick” Sutherland don’t really get the development they might warrant, even for side characters. A more thorough exploration of these side characters might be welcome, but I’m also aware that I wouldn’t want the focus or either of O’Driscoll or Pare’s terrific and transfixing performances to be redirected. Ultimately, The Bearded Girl works overall and I found myself cheering inside at the film’s optimistic and cathartic notes.
A dark fable that isn’t really that dark, and feels fairly modern in setting and tone (though I wonder how many carnival freak shows still exist out there), The Bearded Girl is a coming of age fable that’s both well -worn, tried and true, but with enough slightly shifted reality to feel fantastical. It builds and portrays a charming world that, unlike many of the more horror-forward films in the Fantasia lineup, would be a delight to visit or even inhabit into the years where our hair grays, and our beards grow to magnificent lengths.
Jody Wilson’s The Bearded Girl is part of the 2025 Fantasia Film Festival lineup. The Festival runs from July 16 to August 6 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. You can find ticket and lineup information at the official website here, and stay tuned to Biff Bam Pop for our coverage!
