Understanding the terrifying power of the final scene in ‘Smooth Talk’
The inner worlds of teenage girls have typically not been a priority to Hollywood producers or filmmakers, with stories about young men coming of age being shared to no end and exploring every experience under the sun. Whether it be the sexual escapades of the boys in American Pie or the insidious motivations behind the characters in Kids, there have been countless reflections on the moments that define male adolescence.
However, the experiences of young women are often dismissed and belittled by society at large, with little interest shown in the complex budding minds of teenage girls who are coming of age in a world that doesn’t care to hear their thoughts and ideas. Nevertheless, this narrative was changed in Joyce Chopra’s film Smooth Talk, following a 15-year-old girl called Connie who finds herself in a dangerously grown-up situation, resulting in one terrifying scene that voiced the clash between sexual agency and objectification.
Starring a young Laura Dern, Smooth Talk is based on a short story called Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Written by Joyce Carol Oates, it follows a teenage girl who experiences a sexual awakening over one summer, beginning to crave attention from the opposite sex as she goes out with her friends and bends the rules created by her mother. However, she finds herself flirting with danger after meeting an older man one night called Arnold, taking a sinister turn as he becomes relentless in his pursuit of her, leading to devastating consequences.
In her desire for an ounce of attention and expressing an ounce of sexual desire, Chopra creates a commentary on the melancholic impact of sex for young girls, with Connie being punished for this overt display of desire by being hunted like an animal by a much older man, preyed on and understanding the unspoken dangers of womanhood in the most terrifying way possible. By exploring female violence through the lens of seduction and desire, Chopra creates a twisted meditation on the imagined hopes and disturbing reality of sex for many young women, something that is encapsulated through the film’s final scene, which remains as one of the most intense sequences I’ve ever watched.
After showing an unsettling level of interest in Connie, Arnold escalates the tension by showing up at her house one day while her family is away. What follows is a chilling game of cat and mouse as he circles the house, trying to persuade her to let him in. Connie is caught in a complex web of emotions: simultaneously intrigued and terrified. The situation embodies the paradoxical tension of Schrödinger’s box—she is curious about experiencing sex and the adult world it represents but equally fearful of the consequences. She knows deep down that Arnold is not to be trusted, yet a part of her is flattered by his intense, if predatory, interest.
However, as the afternoon wears on and he still hasn’t left, things take an increasingly disturbing turn, with Connie being trapped in the house as he tries to break in, with the thrill of male attention completely fading and becoming a completely nightmarish situation as she realises the extent of the threat that he poses.
Dern is completely mesmerising in the role, which is even more impressive given that she was only 20 at the time, exposing the conflicted core of desire as she grapples with the idea that sex may not be a freeing and uncomplicated experience and that there may be factors that eliminate her enjoyment of this experience entirely. Chopra communicates the solemn understanding and quiet heartbreak of the realisation that growing up too quickly can be fun for boys and life-threatening for girls, with a haunting final scene that relays the terror of sexual violence and what it means to be a woman.
