Yes, God, Yes (2020) Movie Review
Yes, God, Yes is the first feature film from writer and director Karen Maine. Maine’s previous credits were writing the screenplay for Obvious Child, which emanates some of the same themes found in Yes, God, Yes. The main character in this one is Alice (Natalia Dyer), a teenager growing up in the early 2000’s who attends a Catholic high school. Those of us who attended Catholic schools will recognize and empathize with a few scenes where a teacher issues citations for wearing skirts too short and other ludicrous things that seem very trivial now.
One day after school Alice enters an AOL chat room (remember those!) where someone sends her racy photos and attempts to have cyber sex with her. This begins Alice’s journey of sexual awakening which of course is expressly prohibited by her Catholic school. The priest at school, Father Murphy (Timothy Simons), teaches the teens about sex, emphasizing that it is reserved for a man and a woman who are married and the only point of sex is to conceive children. The irony of a man who has taken a vow of celibacy teaching a sex education class should not be lost on you here.
Alice is having a hard time at school with her peers accusing her of a sexual act called “tossing a salad” at a party. She is whispered about and made fun of and generally harassed for being slutty despite her insistence that she doesn’t even know what tossing someone’s salad means. Then the real fun starts when she and her friend Laura (Francesca Reale) attend a retreat called Kirkos. At this retreat, where they are supposed to draw closer to Jesus and talk about their feelings, Alice discovers that basically everyone is lying about sex. It permeates through everything and although everyone acts like they’re choosing abstinence no one actually is.
Despite being set in the early 2000’s, Alice’s journey to self discovery is one that will resonate with young girls everywhere, regardless of religious affiliation. Maine explores many topics here including sex education, the bias girls face regarding their own sexuality, and why religion means well but often stifles the very things it is supposed to encourage: love, respect, trust, acceptance etc.
You feel for Alice on a deep level and much of that is a credit to Dyer’s performance. She is sympathetic but has a strong sense of self and you want her to stand up to the bullies and find her own way. Yes, God, Yes packs a lot of messages into its one hour and twenty minute run time. Not a minute is wasted and you’re so invested in Alice’s story that the time flies by.
Film or Movie: Movie
You’ll like this movie if:
1. You were raised Catholic or went to a Catholic school
2. You long for some 2000’s nostalgia
3. You want to dissect why sex is such a taboo subject particularly for girls
