Social media overload, yearnings for success, and big-time grief collide in Jane, the compelling female-driven psychological thriller from first-time director Sabrina Jaglom and actor-producer Madelaine Petsch — Riverdale’s forever clever Cheryl Blossom — who wears her first-time producer cap quite nicely here.
“The very first conversation I had with Madelaine, we wound up having a two-hour Zoom call because she really got the character and the nuances of the script, as well as her character’s journey,” said Jaglom, who co-wrote the story with Rishi Rajani. “Madelaine brought many great insights into the dynamic scenes between her and other characters. She added so much depth and specificity to the film.” A tall order to be sure.
Jane follows high school senior Olivia (Petsch), who struggles with grief after the recent loss of her friend, Jane (Chloe Yu). After being sidelined by her dream college, she begins to spiral. Suddenly, her panic attacks become more intense, even frightening. Desperate to regain control, she sparks a social media firestorm against anybody thwarting her “success,” but it just opens doors to her darkest impulses.
Jaglom hoped to create a cautionary tale about losing oneself to unhealthy goals and the immense stress prevalent among teens in the 21st century. “I started writing the story a few years ago, thinking a lot about the pressure I put on myself when I was graduating from high school, and the pressure my peers put on themselves,” she said. “And as I looked back on it, I realized it didn't really matter that much where we went to school or the grades we got.
“I wanted to tell a story about the pressure kids put on themselves and each other, especially with social media, and especially with college admissions, but also to show that age when everything feels so serious, and so personal,” she added.
Jane Actors Open Up About Their Modern-day Thriller
In addition to Petsch and Yu, Jane also stars Oscar-winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter), five-time Grammy-nominated artist Chlöe Bailey (Chlöe X Halle), Nina Bloomgarden (Fatherhood), Ian Owens (Shrill), and Kerri Medders (SEAL Team).
Yu, who takes on the role of mysterious Jane in the film, realized how timely the thriller is.
“I love that the film is like a social commentary about the pressures of academic achievements and also about the world of social media, and how that can contribute to the decline of mental health,” she said. “I also think it comments on how there's so much pressure on young women today — how overwhelming and potentially dangerous it could be. We really need to prioritize ourselves and make sure that we know social media is just a small part of our lives; that it’s not reality at all. It’s truly just a glimpse. There’s so much more to life than just social media.”
Jane effectively delivers that message. Jaglom and Rajani created a posse of characters that capture the mood of the era. Leo morphs into a stalwart principle in the thriller, while Bloomgarden, Bailey, and Medders play teens attempting to find their own emotional footing.
“What’s unique is that it’s told through the point of view of somebody suffering from anxiety, so it’s the point of view of the ‘anxiety’ rather than just the person,” Bloomgarden said. “We see Olivia having a lot of irrational thoughts and she herself becoming an unreliable narrator here. There aren’t a lot of movies that take that vantage point.
“I experienced exactly what Olivia’s experiencing in terms of the anxiety,” she added. “Especially in high school—all those rampant thoughts; that competitive nature. And social media really ties into that pressure and sometimes acting on those irrational thoughts.”
So, what do these young ladies do to find their center and reclaim their footing?
“I try to limit screen time. It is hard to do, but I try,” Yu revealed. “I like to have mental health days — get out of the house or reach out to my friends and family. I really try to prioritize myself, and not overthink or over-analyze.”
Bloomgarden is candid. “It’s important to separate yourself from your thoughts and to understand that they are just thoughts,” she said. “It doesn't mean it’s reality. A lot of the times, our brains have a skewed view of things. Social media also skews things. Stepping away from that sometimes is important. So is talking about what you're feeling and working through it; finding somebody else's point of view. That really helps me round out my reality.”
The Director On Creating A Memorable Female-Driven Thriller
Jaglom’s work stands for the way it effectively captures the intensity of any given scene. There’s thought placed into character arcs and the way certain things play out. It ties into her original intent: to create a female-driven thriller for today’s audiences.
Interestingly, Jaglom hails from a filmmaking family. Her father, Henry Jaglom, is revered for being a cinematic wunderkind. The man created several female-driven movies himself, hitting the mark with Eating (1990), which revolved around women with eating disorders and how they cope with it, Babyfever (1994) — women with ticking biological clocks — and Hollywood Dreams (2006), about a young woman's obsession with fame.
For Jane, Sabrina Jaglom said: “I use specific projects for inspiration with every film and project I work on, For this movie, I was really inspired by Black Swan and the way it showed the personification of anxiety. But I also appreciated movies like Heathers, which are so fun and show high school through this heightened lens, because that's how high school feels sometimes — extremely heightened.”
She credits the actresses in the film, all of whom she feels hit the creative ball out of the park.
“Everybody in the cast did an amazing job,” she quickly noted. “The character of Olivia is in every single scene and Madelaine was a tour de force. She really tracked her character’s arc beautifully. We had a lot of conversations about where she was in the story at any given moment and what happened to get there because her arc is very linear, but also gets crazy.”
As for what she hopes audiences take away from her first-time directing endeavor, Jaglom remains open-minded.
“I hope people take whatever they want to from it — if people watch it for it being a fun, thrilling movie or, if they see it and say, ‘Wow, I saw anxiety personify for the first time, that's really wonderful and special to me,’” she said. “Some of the conversations I've had with people have gone in that direction. I love that some people, after seeing the film, debate what parts are ‘real.’ Because Olivia is a totally unreliable narrator."
“Mostly, I hope everybody has a little sympathy for themselves in high school and people they know in high school,” she added. “I was inclined to create a twist in this genre. Sometimes I think it's easier to access these conversations [about grief and pressure] when the movie isn't grounded in reality; when there are different moods.”
Jane premieres in select AMC theaters on Friday, Aug. 26, and will stream exclusively on Creator+ on Friday, Sept. 16.