Saint Clare

“Everything I have said and done has been in the hands of God. I was born to do this. I am not afraid,” repeats Clare (Bella Thorne) over the opening montage. It’s a quote from Joan of Arc but she means it sincerely, applying it to her own life, and repeats it at intervals throughout the film, whenever her courage – practical or moral – threatens to fail her.

If there’s one characteristic that seems to apply consistently to saints, it’s courage. That could emerge from a number of places. Clare has had to learn to be brave because she’s known from an early age that she’s not like other people. She can’t connect to the world in the same way that they do. She’s a sociopath. The sociopath-as-protagonist idea isn’t new, or course, but this is a world away from the smug satire of the Hannibal Lektor/Lecter franchise, and owes more to the reconceptualisation of sociopathy achieved by Steven Yeun in 2018’s Burning. Don Roff’s book Clare At Sixteen was published three years later and its success might in large part be attributed to the fact that its heroine is relatable despite her difference, because she is still a complex individual and because she faces the same problems common to young women across most of the world. She’s been aged up for the film, but only slightly; she’s young enough that men still think of her as easy prey, which is a dangerous mistake, as one of them will find out just ten minutes in.

Clare isn’t new to this, as we soon learn from her conversations with Bob the mailman (Frank Whaley), who is possibly an imaginary friend and possibly a ghost (an incident later on will tip the scales a little on this one), but at any rate blames her for his death. She doesn’t know why she doesn’t feel bad about these things, wondering why God has made her this way. He offers what is generally low quality avuncular advice, but he also warns her that the man she just encountered did not act alone. This was something that she has already been wondering about. There are posters around the neighbourhood featuring the face of the missing Theresa Holmes. Looking into it, she discovers that a number of young women have gone missing in the area in recent years. Though they take the time to ask her questions about the missing man, the police don’t seem to be doing anything about this bigger problem. Perhaps – making use of her difference – she should.

It’s a busy story but it flows smoothly in the hands of director Mitzi Peirone, who uses the visual language of nostalgic coming-of-age movies to tell the main part of the tale, intermittently veering off into much more experimental techniques when Clare experiences dissociative episodes. Here we get montage, layering, blurring, and a crescendo of sound. The fact that Clare can’t remember, afterwards, what she’s said or done adds to the tension. This isn’t used in a cheesy way, to put her in immediate physical danger, but instead it kicks in when she faces socially difficult situations. She’s an orphan, with no-one to guide her through any of this, just a grandmother, Gigi, who is desperate to keep her safe, having already lost her daughter. Rebecca De Mornay is magnificent in this role and serves as the real heart of the film, showing us emotion of which Clare is not capable. Though she gets only a small amount of screentime, her presence helps to keep the film balanced and keep it – and Clare – from getting carried away by daring escapades which we might otherwise forget have real world consequences.

Whilst, on the one hand, Clare is busy with ordinary college activities and a possible new love interest, on the other her lack of fear is leading her into increasingly dangerous situations. We see early on that she can handle herself when things get physical, but she may not be a good judge of her limits. This provides solid justification for taking viewers out of their comfort zone in ways that would seem unrealistic with a more conventional character. In and around the action and the suspense sequences, Peirone slips in references to religious art which add thematic depth and richness and reflect aspects of the novel that might otherwise get lost in translation.

Though the ending is, inevitably, rather more conventional, overall this is a smart and pleasing sophisticated adaptation which should speak well to a young audience whilst still entertaining older viewers.

Saint Clare screened as part of Frightfest 2024.