Director Kimberly Peirce and screenwriter Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark) seem to be at odds over how to handle a Carrie remake. Peirce coaxes a very natural, almost underplayed, beauty from her cast of actors. She downplays the infamous abuse in the White household to turn Carrie into a Greek-style tragedy, with the massive punishment of The Destruction and the catharsis of the final moments. Aguirre-Sacasa lifts most of his screenplay wholesale from the (rightfully credited) Lawrence D. Cohen version and adds in a few cool details from the Stephen King novel. His biggest contribution is finding a brilliant throughline in social media and the pervasiveness of technology when it comes to bullying in modern high schools. Aguirre-Sacasa's laser vision on the literal text of Carrie gives Peirce the freedom to mold it into biting social commentary through performance and technical craft.
In the remake, Carrie is still an awkward girl who unfortunately experiences his first period in the locker room showers. This time, Chris Hargensen leads the charge, starting the "plug it up" chant and filming Carrie's humiliation on her cellphone. Margaret White quietly tries to regain control over her daughter after the state forced the girl into public schooling while Sue sets out to destroy Carrie through the wonders of the digital age.
I normally don't address other criticism in my own reviews, but I have to make an exception for Carrie. There is a disappointing throughline in most reviews that suggests this remake isn't necessary because it doesn't add anything particularly new to the plot. I think that's a gross oversimplification of what Peirce pulls off with the help of a strong cast of female actors.
Peirce sculpts this version of Carrie into a feminist text on gender-specific bullying and female power structures in modern American society. Stephen King's novel is a collection of news clippings and interviews where a bunch of people try to figure out why an awkward, ugly, unpopular girl snapped at her prom. He's said many times he set out to make Carrie an unlikable, undesirable character, so he made her fat, covered in acne, overly religious, totally unfashionable, and unpleasant to be around. He set her up to be the ultimate victim for max shock value and that's how the character is typically treated.
Not here. Chloe Grace Moretz is not an ideal Carrie in the traditional vision of Carrie. She is a tool for Peirce's thesis on the true meaning of this story. Moretz is not this awkward, bumbling, ugly Carrie stereotype. When Ms. Desjardin stand Carrie in front of a mirror and gives her a pep talk before prom, she really does show off how beautiful Carrie is. The beauty doesn't come from an overt physical change--the makeup team does excellent subtle beauty makeup to deghoul Carrie (purple lips to natural coloring, dark circles under the eyes lighten) as her confidence in telekinesis creates confidence as a person--but from the strength of character she's building through this ordeal.
The bullying that sets the story in motion is played as ingrained social behavior. The constant jeer of "Carrie White is a pig" doesn't come into play until halfway through the film; most students use a far more generic, crude message. Any girl in the school could have been the victim. Carrie just happens to be the one they deemed different enough to torture. Bullying is, in many ways, a random construct of society. While students try to figure out their own identity, they find ways to bring their peers down. This makes the pain of being the focus of these attacks even more hurtful because there really is no logical reason why this pretty girl with blonde hair and big eyes is vilified in school while that pretty girl with blonde hair and big eyes gets whatever she wants. The major divider here is Carrie's modesty and no one outside of her household mentions it directly; she's a random victim of behavior that can only be encouraged by bad examples and poor boundaries created by an older generation.
Carrie, in Peirce's vision, isn't even the star of this story. Carrie is an ensemble film this time around focusing on five major female character. Margaret White is a desperately lonely woman, crushed by betrayal and strengthened through the resolve of her religious beliefs. Her greatest betrayal is the opening of the film, telegraphing the final moments in the White household 90 minutes later. She believes the only way to save Carrie from the humiliations she faced is to hide her from the world. Julianne Moore plays her scenes so straight that Margaret flips between being the source of all terror in the film and a surrogate for the audience to latch onto.
Ms. Desjardin is an overreaching authority figure with the best intentions. If only she could get the other girls to see how horrible they are, they all--Carrie included--might learn how to be decent human beings; still she doesn't trust anyone but the quiet little loner. Judy Greer gloats her way through the film, taking pride in cutting down the teenagers and authority figures who challenge her way of teaching character. She embraces the victim at the expense of actually bullying her students just to make them squirm.
Chris Hargensen is Ms. Desjardin's worse nightmare. She's an entitled girl who gets everything she wants without any effort because she's rich and beautiful. She also has a martyr complex that refuses to let her see anyone as a victim except for her. Portia Doubleday plays her as the most dangerous kind of adversary: a horrible person who believes she is infallible. Chris sets herself up for her own demise in this version of Carrie with more than just the prom. And like a true bully, she gets away with almost every stunt she pulls; if she doesn't, she takes everyone down with her and her followers obey her every command.
Sue Snell is the character that suffers the most in Peirce's vision. She becomes nothing but a foil to Chris and Carrie. She's the repentant sinner, the good girl who makes a bad choice and spends the rest of her life trying to make herself feel better without apologizing to her victims. Gabriella Wilde has a towering presence onscreen that covers a lot of the holes in Aguirre-Sacasa's screenplay. It's impossible for Tommy Ross, Chris' boyfriend, to collaborate with her on her atonement plan if the boyfriend is totally removed from her story beyond being a prop.
These five female characters battle with each other throughout the entire film without the influence of men. The principal, a couple boyfriends, and even an abusive teacher step in to shake things up in the moment or do some grunt work (even then, Chris has to finish what the boys started), but none have a lasting impact on the story. Tommy Ross plays a more active role when the prom rolls around, but he's constantly written off as a bumbling idiot with no social graces; someone that weak could never really impact this tangled power struggle.
Carrie comments on how women with power can choose to treat women without power. It's the social constructs that manifest in bullying, child abuse, and gender-focused lessons and punishments in education. Carrie learns well from the bad example of the popular girls, her gym teacher, and even her mother. From the moment she stands up and uses her powers to silence her mother for the first time, there is no redemption for Peirce's vision of Carrie. That girl will fall into the same mold as the controlling women around her. Any sign of kindness or rationality leaves as soon as Ms. Desjardin (boosting her confidence and forcing the prom plan through to the bitter end), Chris (planning Tommy's invitation and her own martyrdom), and Margaret (as a source of rebellion, not an active participant in the planning) force her right into the prom-set revenge plans of Sue (a bucket of blood and a steady hand). The cycle of bullying and abuse becomes a cyclone of destruction as soon as the first drop of blood lands on that pretty pink dress.
Rating: 9/10
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