Topline
“Miller’s Girl,” the thriller starring Jenna Ortega as a high school student and Martin Freeman as her teacher, who enter a complicated relationship with a more than 30-year age gap, is No. 2 on the U.S. Netflix charts despite the resurfacing controversy over the age gap relationship and poor critical reviews.
"Miller's Girl" stars Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for ... [+]
Key Facts
“Miller’s Girl” debuted on Netflix on April 26, three months after it completed a brief theatrical run in the United States.
The film ranks No. 2 on the U.S. Netflix film charts, just behind the Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell romantic comedy “Anyone But You,” up from No. 4 on Monday, IndieWire reported.
The film first divided viewers on social media upon release for intimate scenes that Ortega, 21, and Freeman, 52, had to film despite their more-than-30-year age gap—though the cast and crew has defended the film’s controversial subject.
Contra
Freeman defended the film’s intimate scenes in an interview with The Times of London this week, stating the filmmakers were not endorsing relationships with a significant age gap. “It’s not saying, ‘Isn’t this great?’” Freeman said. He called the film “grown-up and nuanced,” adding it is a “shame” the age gap discourse dominated discussion about the movie. Kristina Arjona, who worked as an intimacy coordinator on “Miller’s Girl,” previously said the film’s crew worked closely with the actors to produce the intimate scenes, adding Ortega was “comfortable” and “very sure of what she wanted to do.”
Chief Critics
The film failed to impress critics, earning just a 29% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and some negative reviews pointed to the portrayal of the age gap relationship as a detriment to the film. CNN critic Brian Lowry slammed the film as “icky,” stating the film suffers most from its portrayal of Ortega’s character as the “vaguely predatory” pursuer of her decades-older teacher. Associated Press critic Mark Kennedy noted the film’s screenplay, written in 2016, predates the #MeToo movement and feels “wholly out of its time in 2024.” Seattle Times critic Chase Hutchinson compared the film unfavorably to “May December,” a 2023 film that received critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination, loosely inspired by the real-life relationship between teacher Mary Kay Letourneau and student Vili Fualaau (Letourneau was convicted of raping Fualaau when he was 12 in the 1990s and served six years in prison, marrying Fualaau after her release).
Surprising Fact
SAG-AFTRA adjusted guidelines for intimacy coordinators days after Arjona’s interview in which she claimed Ortega was comfortable while filming the movie’s intimate scenes went viral. The new guidelines forbid intimacy coordinators from speaking about an actor’s experiences in “performing highly sensitive scenes” without the actor’s consent. Though the updated SAG-AFTRA standards did not reference “Miller’s Girl,” the timing led to speculation Arjona’s comments had sparked the new protocols.
Key Background
“Miller’s Girl” premiered at the Palm Springs film festival in January and opened in theaters later that month. The film, distributed by Lionsgate Films, grossed just over $1 million at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo. The film follows Ortega’s character Cairo Sweet as she takes an English class taught by Freeman’s character. While searching for a topic to write her Yale University admissions essay on, Sweet writes about an affair between a student and a teacher, mirroring her developing affair with her own teacher.
Further Reading
Miller’s Girl: What to Know About the Jenna Ortega Movie (Netflix)
Miller’s Girl viewers unsettled by sex scene between Martin Freeman, 52, and Jenna Ortega, 21 (The Independent)
