As her adolescence gives way to the obligations of motherhood, troubled Gemma matures in Motherwell, her Scottish hometown, heavily dependent on the steel industry. Unfortunately for her, her hedonistic way of understanding the world does not fit in with the philosophy of the rest of the villagers, so trouble soon follows.
Direction
Directors lived in Motherwell for three years. You feel it.
Cinematography
Pigeons as visual metaphor—suddenly you're weeping over birds.
Director
Ellen Fiske
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Fiske and Hallin met at film school and made this their debut, shooting over four years as Gemma aged from 14 to 18.
Motherwell's Ravenscraig steelworks closed in 1992; the 'Scheme' housing estates remain a symbol of Thatcher's Britain that Scottish cinema keeps returning to.
SE
GB
