Shubhabrata Dutta
Billie Eilish’s feature film debut will take her to Hollywood North. It is in Toronto that the filming of ‘The Bell Jar,’ based on poet and author Sylvia Plath’s classic novel of the same name, will take place starting this June. Sarah Polley is the writer and director.
The story is in the 1950s. It follows Esther Greenwood, a young woman from the suburbs of Boston, who wins a summer internship at a prominent women’s magazine in New York City. While she tries to embrace this newfound freedom, she finds herself neither stimulated nor excited by the city’s glamorous culture and lifestyle. Struggling with the expectation that girls her age should idolize this world, she is unable to reconcile her conflicted feelings. As her time in New York counts down, she can’t escape her memories of an idyllic childhood turned on its head, of Buddy – her hometown first love – and of the rising wave of anxiety at the thought of a future life without real meaning.
‘The Bell Jar’ is the only novel written by Plath. The novel was first published in 1963. The only significant film adaptation of the movie to date is the 1979 film of the same name starring Marilyn Hassett and Julie Harris. It was directed by Larry Peerce.
Billie Eilish’s latest album is ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft,’ which was released in May 2024. The album topped the charts in over 20 countries and received seven nominations, including Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards. The single ‘Wildflower’ won Song of the Year at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards.
Sarah Polley’s well-known directorial credits include ‘Women Talking,’ about a group of women at an isolated religious community who grapple with reconciling a brutal reality with their faith; the comedy movie ‘Take This Waltz,’ starring Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, and Sarah Silverman; and ‘Away from Her,’ about a man coping with the institutionalization of his wife because of Alzheimer’s disease.
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