Netflix’s Confessions Of An Invisible Girl Review: Another Heartfelt Cliché

Netflix’s new Brazilian feature film Confessions of an Invisible Girl, or Confissões de uma Garota Excluída, (2021) is a close hit to a teenage’s story of self-discovery but has nothing new to offer. Directed by Bruno Garotti, the film stars Klara Castanho as the protagonist Tete along with Gabriel Lima as Davi, Marus Bessa as Zeca, Fernanda Concon as Lai and Julia Gomes as Valentina.

This coming-of-age comedy, written by Bruno Thalita Reboucas, Flavia Lins e Silva, and Christina Oliveira is based on the best-selling book Confisssoes de uma garota exclude, mal-amada e (um pouco) dramática and tries to be a breath of fresh air but succumbs to the same-old story of a high school girl who feels like a fish out of the water until a makeover empowers her and everyone starts noticing her.

– Confessions Of An Invisible Girl review contains mild spoilers –

Confessions of an Invisible Girl: Is it any different?

Apparently, no.

Our protagonist Tete wears chunky spectacles, sweats like crazy when nervous, falls in love every time she meets a guy but is the high school outcast who isn’t “cool” enough to fit in the clique. Sounds like a page ripped off from The Princess Diaries, right? Well, there’s even the Grandma who helps the granddaughter by constantly encouraging the granddaughter to do better by being popular and having friends! It even represents an LGBTQ+ character but, does not cover the sub-plot of the character in depth.

However, Tete is an endearing protagonist who is too good to be true, even for a girl who feels invisible in high school. She puts up with her family’s encouragement and nosiness in her life, which often comes across like she is being bullied by her grandmother and mother. She tolerates the “Mean Girl” at school and even though all her punchlines are a failure, she tries to be a good friend.

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The first half of the movie feels like a drag, mostly because there have been so many similar films made with the same premise. And although the film tries to suddenly pick up in the second half by turning into a thriller or PG-13 crime documentary of sorts, it feels like a low blow that is rushed without a warning making you uncomfortable and clueless.

But, there are certain aspects that break the pattern of the hopeless-high school girl story only to move towards a positive direction. One instance is that it is finally talking about boys taking accountability!

There are countless movies where you see how the one high school jock has fooled around with the popular girl, her enemy and the high school outcast without taking accountability. Ultimately, the guy gets the girl (the outcast who has waxed her unibrow and shed off her glasses and is now suddenly considered pretty)! No one questions this guy for breaking so many hearts and in a way, using the female attention he gets.

Only Tete in Confessions of an Invisible Girl doesn’t hold back and downright expresses that the guy is at fault (even though she has a severe crush on this guy) and how he is not dumb but rather doesn’t care about anyone else’s feelings. Well, that was hands down one of the most progressive moments this film had to offer.

Confessions of an Invisible Girl: Final Verdict

It will not impress you a lot but then, it will not disappoint you either if you are looking for a feel-good, young adult film to pass time. It, of course, sheds light on the innate desire of teenagers to fit in under the pressure of “who-is-popular?” in high school. Social pressure, raging hormones, awkward situations and the journey to build self-esteem and love oneself is crafted in the new release Confessions of an Invisible Girl.

You can watch Confessions of an Invisible Girl now on Netflix.

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