The Girl from Monday
Encyclopedia
The Girl from Monday is a 2005 American film directed by Hal Hartley
. The film deals with the consequences of business monopolization and globalization. Filmed in New York City and Puerto Rico, the film was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival
. After a limited run in New York, it was shown at various festivals in America and Europe.
In voiceover, Jack Bell (Bill Sage) explains how his ideas came to bring the "triple M" into power and reduce human beings to mere consumers, pawns of the corporation.
The innovative idea Jack contributes to Triple M is that, since sexually active people are the most active consumers, people will record each of their sexual encounters as an economic transaction. This will increase their desirability rating, their value as sexual commodities, and therefore also their credit rating. Because of its direct relation to one's credit rating and buying power, insurance policies covering a person's sexual desirability are available.
Jack tries to hook up with Cecile (Sabrina Lloyd
) but fails, leading the insurance company to investigate why this happened. The insurance agent decides it's not Cecile's fault and her premium remains the same, while Jack's is raised.
By chance Cecile meets up with a teenager in the counter-revolution, who takes her to a place where people have sex because it feels good. Cecile is arrested and sentenced to "two years hard labor... teaching high school."
At the high school, Cecile reads Thoreau's book Walden
and is inspired to join the counter-revolution.
Meanwhile, Jack finds the girl from the planet Monday (named after its discoverer, Vincent Monday, explains Jack in voice-over) and teaches her how to fit into human society. But the girl, who refers to herself as 'nobody', just wants to go home. Jack, it turns out, is also from that planet, and has tried and failed to go home. They go to the ocean, where the girl walks into the ocean. Jack says he doesn't know if she made it or not.
, opines that "Like so many science fiction fantasies, Hal Hartley's new film begins with a clever satirical premise, then stumbles all over itself trying to tell a coherent, original story." Peter Hanson, writing for Film Threat, called it "A profoundly unnecessary movie."
In comparison to Hartley's earlier work, this film and No Such Thing "may have lacked the impact of his first features, [but] they certainly demonstrate that Hartley is a director still unafraid to take apart and reassemble the medium."
customers to rent.
Hal Hartley
Hal Hartley is an American film director, screenwriter, producer composer, who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and 1990s...
. The film deals with the consequences of business monopolization and globalization. Filmed in New York City and Puerto Rico, the film was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
. After a limited run in New York, it was shown at various festivals in America and Europe.
Plot summary
A being from another planet (Abracos) arrives on Earth and takes human form.In voiceover, Jack Bell (Bill Sage) explains how his ideas came to bring the "triple M" into power and reduce human beings to mere consumers, pawns of the corporation.
The innovative idea Jack contributes to Triple M is that, since sexually active people are the most active consumers, people will record each of their sexual encounters as an economic transaction. This will increase their desirability rating, their value as sexual commodities, and therefore also their credit rating. Because of its direct relation to one's credit rating and buying power, insurance policies covering a person's sexual desirability are available.
Jack tries to hook up with Cecile (Sabrina Lloyd
Sabrina Lloyd
Sabrina Lloyd is an American film and television actress.She has played the roles of Wade Welles in the science fiction series Sliders, and Natalie Hurley in the ABC sitcom Sports Night.-Early life:...
) but fails, leading the insurance company to investigate why this happened. The insurance agent decides it's not Cecile's fault and her premium remains the same, while Jack's is raised.
By chance Cecile meets up with a teenager in the counter-revolution, who takes her to a place where people have sex because it feels good. Cecile is arrested and sentenced to "two years hard labor... teaching high school."
At the high school, Cecile reads Thoreau's book Walden
Walden
Walden is an American book written by noted Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau...
and is inspired to join the counter-revolution.
Meanwhile, Jack finds the girl from the planet Monday (named after its discoverer, Vincent Monday, explains Jack in voice-over) and teaches her how to fit into human society. But the girl, who refers to herself as 'nobody', just wants to go home. Jack, it turns out, is also from that planet, and has tried and failed to go home. They go to the ocean, where the girl walks into the ocean. Jack says he doesn't know if she made it or not.
Themes
Almost all of the themes of the film are given in Jack's voiceovers. Society is too commercial, there is no privacy on the Internet. Children are given attention-deficit drugs and taught through "virtual playstations" supervised by convicts because too many of them bring guns to school.Criticism
Stephen Holden, writing for The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, opines that "Like so many science fiction fantasies, Hal Hartley's new film begins with a clever satirical premise, then stumbles all over itself trying to tell a coherent, original story." Peter Hanson, writing for Film Threat, called it "A profoundly unnecessary movie."
In comparison to Hartley's earlier work, this film and No Such Thing "may have lacked the impact of his first features, [but] they certainly demonstrate that Hartley is a director still unafraid to take apart and reassemble the medium."
DVD release
The region 1 DVD release came out on November 7, 2006 and was made available to NetflixNetflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
customers to rent.