Thoroughbreds stars Olivia Cooke, who plays Amanda, and Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays Lily, with a supporting role by Anton Yelchin in his final performance as the neighborhood drug dealer, Tim. It is about two teenage girls who are more similar than they superficially appear as they reacquaint themselves with each other and explore their personal furthest corners to achieve their goals. My main motivation for seeing this film was for the performances since they are solid, young actors. I was specifically eager to see Cooke when she wasn’t playing a physically sick girl as she normally does in Bates Motel, The Signal, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and The Quiet Ones, but in this film, she plays a mentally ill one though she is not disabled per se.
I did not see Thoroughbreds in the theater because it had a lot of competition opening weekend so it just wasn’t a priority. Instead I correctly chose to see the following in theaters: Oh Lucy!, a Japanese American joint venture, Loveless, a film by one of the greatest living Russian directors, and Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story. I wasn’t going to choose the one art house film in which the promotion seemed to give away the majority of the story, and movies about teenagers are always lower on the list even if I am attracted to the film. Even though I now know that Thoroughbreds is a better film, I don’t regret that I made time later that week to see A Wrinkle in Time and Gringo in theaters because if mainstream films with black protagonists do not do well in the box office, there may not be another one. Corey Finley, the director of Thoroughbreds, is under 30, and this is his first film. DuVernay had to personally finance her first film at 33.
With that said, Finley is a director whose work I look forward to seeing in the future and will prioritize the next time one of his movies is in theaters. His work seems inspired by, but lighter than Chan-wook Park’s Stoker. For a first time director, he is already in control of conducting the camera, the soundtrack and the performances as a unit to create a cohesive and visually and aurally arresting feature. One element never overpowers the other, and a story that seems given away before it starts is still filled with psychological surprises and emotional nuance. I think that the advertising did Thoroughbreds a disservice, and it seems like a very unique film—dissimilar to Heathers and American Psycho.
Thoroughbreds seemed to be more about the transition from childhood to adulthood and discovering the limits of the control that you have over your life whether they be moral, financial, mental or physical. Most people don’t have that epiphany until later in life, but once you face your first disappointment, loss or failure, it is an epiphany that forces you to determine what kind of person you want to be. Unfortunately just because you know what you want does not mean that you can achieve it. Amanda’s first attempt at self-determination is a now public disaster and a complete failure at mercy. Tim is all talk, but is outmatched by the teenagers that he chooses to surround himself with. Lily seems as if she is in control, but is frustrated by the illusion.
I can tell that I’m old when I agree and empathize with the wicked stepfather, Mark, who seems to be winning the battle of wills for dominance in his house. Even though I viscerally share Lily’s revulsion at her mother’s servile eagerness to please her husband, there is a brief shift in focus from the foreground of watching Lily watch TV to the background of her mother and stepfather looking at her with concern and clearly discussing her. Yes, he is a hunter and verbally takes out his frustration over his injuries on Lily’s mom, but he also is someone who may genuinely love his wife and realizes that he messed up so he tries to surprise her and see her sooner rather than later to make up for his outburst. Lily has projected her isolation in the house to her mother’s relationship. They only seem separated, but they are together as a couple. Mark is just annoyed at how Lily’s mom is too easy on Lily because of her early loss because he probably listens to Lily’s mom talk a big game and air her grievances fully behind closed doors. He is understandably horrified at how entitled Lily feels to his money and property with only the veneer of respect.
Lily has focused all her frustrations with life on Mark: the death of a loved one, her professional failures, being dependent on others for money. She is like Hamlet, but without any justification for her grudge. She is an emotional child who discusses her mother’s well being without actually caring about her. The fact that we don’t see Lily’s mother at the end is such a chasm for me. She probably never had that kind of relationship with her mother, and nothing will ever change that. Lily wants to be comforted like a child, and her final physical contact is not only delivered by someone who is only acting very hard as if she cares when conscious, but is not even delivering this mechanical comfort of her own free will. Lily lives a child’s fantasy of wanting to revert back to her old life of just her mother and her, but ends up alone and adult, cut off from all human ties except for the presence of servants as she was when we were introduced to her at the beginning of the movie. She may be the image of success, but she is the most emotionally stunted person in the film because she is never in full harmony with her outward appearance and true, inner self. Tim is forced to reconcile his reality with his ambition, and Amanda has found peace and freedom in the least likely way, but Lily is trapped in a façade without anyone to challenge or love her.
Thoroughbreds is a microcosm of adulthood concentrated to fit the confines of a ninety two minute movie. It depicts how vital and close relationships can become remote and almost forgotten, then reignited and shut off again for purposes of moving forward, an emotional dismembering. It also demands that we question what we desire and why we desire it. I love the phrase white sepulchre because it denotes a beautiful container that only holds dead bones. Isn’t that what Mark’s home feels like? Isn’t that what Lily is? They are white sepulchers incapable of warmth, community, unselfish love, but are actually holding the secret of death.