Annie Baker’s directorial debut Janet Planet is as spare and contemplative as her writing for the stage. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright paints a lush portrait of a mother and daughter living in rural Massachusetts in 1991, walking steadily through tall grass and trees, making a quiet life for themselves. Even the title “Planet Janet” emphasizes the way Lacy’s world is created in Janet’s image, as her life is the only model for love, friendship, and womanhood she has ever known.
Janet works from home as an acupuncturist, a profession that allows her to soothe her boyfriend Wayne (Will Patton), a troubled older man of few words. Their relationship seems to hinge on Janet being a nurturing presence in his life, prompting Lacy to compete with her for her mother’s time and affection. Through dialogue, we learn that Janet has a habit of dating men who aren’t right for her, but Lacy is unclear as to why this is. Initially, we see Janet as her daughter sees her, in small windows of time, filtered by her 11-year-old impressions. She, Wayne and Lacy function as a love triangle with Janet in the middle trying to keep the peace. But much of the conflict is so easy as to go undetected by an outsider. Everything in their life together is calm, but the silence masks intense emotional uncertainty.
“Janet Planet” follows several months in the lives of Lacy and her mother, with people moving in and out of the orbit of Jannet. In the small pockets of time when Lacy is not with Janet, she occupies herself with piano lessons and playing with her little stage of miniature figurines. Lacy has no friends, a fact that is “a complete mystery” to her. But from the outside, the answer seems clear – she’s too in love with her mother to let anyone else in. While she has moments of bonding with other children — especially her time with Wayne’s daughter, Sequoia — Lacy prefers the company of her mother and other adults who encourage her precocious nature.
In the film’s most dynamic scene, Janet and Lasi watch a play in the woods with elaborate costumes and poetic dialogue. Janet has broken up with Wayne and is once again a free agent. With the full beauty of their surroundings on display, Janet and Lacy are temporarily transported from their quiet, often frustrating lives to a magical place full of possibilities. This moment reveals the pattern of their lives – Janet goes from lover to lover as Lacy watches, with little interludes of alone time between the two where they bond together and heal.
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