Horse Girl is a psychological drama film that was released early this year (2020) on Netflix. It was written and directed by Jeff Baena and stars Alison Brie (playing Sarah) who is also listed as one of the writers of the film.
The film is a strange one, to say the least, and I really wouldn’t be surprised if many people turned it off part way through. It's weird and confusing and overall, it probably left a lot of people wondering “what the hell did I just watch?”
Me on the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and consider it to be majorly underrated. Its a real sleeper film that probably isn't on anyone's radar and probably didn't get a lot of attention. But it really has a little bit of everything, at least for me. It was thrilling and dark but also pretty hilarious. I literally laughed my ass off several times while watching it. The main character Sarah has a sweetness about her that you really can’t help but laugh at. But the laughter is not out of malice or in a mean way at all, it's just that Sarah's character is so damn sweet and so innocent that it’s almost impossible not to experience a sense of pure joy from just watching her.
Anyway, enough with the preamble and accolades. As mentioned, the film is a confusing one so I'm dedicating the remainder of the article to making sense out of its chaos. I'll explain what is really going in the movie and give my interpretation of the ending. Though I will try to keep the spoilers down to a minimum I am sure some will slip through the cracks. Be warned.
Making Sense of the Timeline
The main confusion of the film comes from the story’s chaotic timeline. Not only is the story not conveyed in chronological order but it also doesn’t appear to follow any sort of conventional rules of storytelling whatsoever. Some events are shown more than once, while others are simply way out of sequence. Overall, this gives the movie a very chaotic and confusing sort of vibe and makes it impossible for the viewer to decipher the exact timeline of events. But that is actually the point.
The story is being told by Sarah, the main character of the film, and Sarah suffers from a severe mental health disorder - likely schizophrenia or some form of psychosis. This is made clear by the indication that Sarah’s family has a history of mental illness and that she herself has experienced several traumatic events in her past.
Sarah is telling the story so, what we are viewing in this film is actually a first person perspective of someone living with a mental health disorder. Unfortunately for the viewer though, in movie terms, this makes Sarah a very unreliable narrator. Though it is not clear in the film what Sarah is suffering from it is clear that her mind doesn’t seem to behave in a mainstream sort of way. Events are told out of sequence as Sarah’s mind jumps back and forth through time; they are sporadic, shifting from topic to topic; and they are intermixed with her own hallucinations and delusions as well as those of others. Some event even repeat themselves on more than one occasion.
Disorganized storytelling is actually a symptom of schizophrenia, which is likely what Sarah suffers from. For instance, one of the characterizations of disorganized speech is loose associations between topics and a rapid shift between ideas that have little or no noticeable connections to others. This is portrayed in the film on several occasions but is most apparent near the end when Sarah enters into a sort of fever dream state. Here events happen rapidly, they are out of sequence and they are intermixed with Sarah’s imagination. At this point things also basically stop making sense whatsoever to the viewer.
Like disorganized speech and behavior, hallucinations (typically audible) and delusions are also common symptoms of schizophrenia and Sarah definitely appears to have both of these in the movie.
Things to Consider - SPOILERS for Sure Here
- The biggest thing to keep in mind when trying to make sense of the film is that Sarah is telling the story from her perspective. During the hospital scene where Sarah tells the other patient that she has also seen the "ramp of light" it appears as if this event is happening in real time. However in actuality, that event happened in the past and Sarah is recalling the memory of it to convey it to the viewer. Its distorted because for Sarah the lines between reality, imagination and memory are blurred so she believes that the event is actually taking place in the present. This explains why Sarah appears to be able to see into the future at times. She is re-calling past memories believing that they are happening in the present.
- At some points the viewer may believe that several weeks have passed from a given moment when really it has only been a day or two in real time. The lack of return of Sarah’s DNA&U results gives us some indication of this. It’s not that the company has failed to send Sarah her results, its that it has only actually been a day or two since she sent her DNA to the company.
- The scene with Sarah’s social worker demonstrates to the viewer that events are being told out of sequence. The first meeting with the SW is actually the second time the two are meeting.
- Sarah’s friend (the shop owner) represents society’s reaction to individuals with mental health concerns. She cares about Sarah and wants only the best for her but is ultimately not very helpful to her. She resorts to saying things like “just think about things you like - like flowers or marmalade,” and other unhelpful comments and suggestions. Despite having good intentions towards Sarah the shop owner doesn’t really have a clue how to help her. She may even feel helpless herself – a very common feeling for people in society when it comes to mental health concerns.
- Sarah’s horse grounds her to reality. Things seem to fall apart for her when she can no longer see her horse. At some point Sarah is told harshly and violently that she cannot come to the farm to see her horse anymore. Perhaps this is the event that sends her into a sort of cognitive spiral?
Interpretation of the Ending
My personal opinion is that Sarah actually dies at the end of the film. Basically she loses her will to live and lays down to die. As strange as it may sound, this behavior has actually been observed and is considered a real phenomenon in the field of psychology and psychiatry. It even has a name, which is “give-up-it-is” (GUI for short). The term GUI describes individuals who have experienced a severe trauma that leads to the development of extreme apathy, loss of hope and a general lack of will to live.
It is a condition that has mostly been observed among individuals who believe that they have little or no control over an extreme situation. These individuals tend to lose their sense of hope and often believe that they have no means of escaping their current situation. The condition was originally observed among prisoners of war and was described by the famous psychiatrist and Nazi camp survivor Viktor Frankl. GUI has also been observed among shipwreck survivors and prison inmates.
Though GUI deaths can be sudden and unexpected it is typically described as a gradual decline or regression, much like a passive suicide or a general slipping away. GUI is also said to be psychological in nature as individuals diagnosed with it typically have no signs of any sort of organic cause of death.
I do not know if GUI has any relation to schizophrenia or any other mental health concern but it does seem to be an explanation for the ending of the film. Overall, I quite liked the films conclusion and felt that it had a sort of elegant drama which I found enjoyable.
What did you think of the ending and the film overall? Did you like it, hate it or have any other thoughts on it? Let me know in the comments.
Thank for Reading
Images from the film
Academic References for GUI Below
Frumin, C. R. (2018). Working with people who have lost the Will to live: Following sudden loss, violence and acute or childhood trauma [online]. International Journal of Narrative Therapy & Community Work, 4, 53-60.
Leach, J. (2018). ‘Give-up-it is’ revisited: Neuropathology of extremis. Medical Hypotheses, 120, 14-21.