Good Girl Goes (Somewhat) Bad
The movie affirms that a good girl sometimes doesn’t so much fall for a bad boy as idolize what he represents: freedom from social convention; confidence; excitement; and adventure.

One universally acknowledged truth of filmmaking is that a “good girl” in full possession of moral sense must be attracted to a “bad boy.” Yet what if the good girl’s feelings run deeper than physical attraction or the challenge of trying to fix the bad boy? What if she unconsciously desires to be like him, to live a life unbeholden to what is expected of a well-brought-up young woman?
Such is the thematic lifeblood coursing through the new movie “True Things.”
Ruth Wilson plays Kate, a single woman of indeterminate age — at times she looks to be in her late 20s and at others a bit older — living in an unidentified English coastal town. Various scenes of domestic life indicate that Kate is depressed; she lives alone in an apartment with unwatered plants, kitchen cabinets devoid of foodstuffs, and broken window shades. She is frequently seen scrolling through social media accounts, and she’s often late or calling in sick to work, which seems to be a governmental office for those looking for employment.
It’s here she meets Samuel, a magnetic, middle-aged man with dyed blond hair and a cleft lip who’s just been released from prison.
After getting together outside the office, the two begin an ill-advised relationship. The warning signs that it’s a bad idea are all there: Kate could lose her job for having relations with a claimant; Samuel doesn’t contact her for several days after their initial meet-ups; he sidelines her attempts at getting to know him better while keeping her entranced with sweet talk and intimacy.
Several scenes, including erotic dreams, establish Kate’s obsession with him, and the moviemaking excels in portraying this infatuation. For though the storyline follows a familiar if variable trajectory, the cinematography keeps things fresh through its impressionistic reflections of Kate’s state of mind and point of view. Light flares, blurred shots, and quick pans are among the devices used to mirror the character’s increasing lust and confusion as her relationship with Samuel ebbs and flows.
This engagingly myopic visual approach leads to narrative solipsism, unfortunately. A too-tight focus on Kate’s perspective means we never get to know any of the other characters very well. Still, Tom Burke has charm to spare as Samuel, despite his character’s mysterious past and sometimes edgy, hard-scrabble demeanor. A lonely, mild-mannered woman might fall for a man like him, ignoring all reason.
Yet what the movie affirms so clearly, especially in a telling scene where Kate goes on a blind date with a buttoned-up nice guy, is that a good girl sometimes doesn’t so much fall for a bad boy as idolize what he represents: freedom from social convention; confidence; excitement; and adventure. Without the criminality, of course.
Emphasizing her pouty features and inherent fragility, Ruth Wilson makes for an absorbing heroine, much as she was in the acclaimed Showtime television series “The Affair.” Character studies don’t always make for the most compelling of movies, but as Kate begins to recognize her desires and her own agency, Ms. Wilson depicts both the internal struggle and the growth honestly.
Director Harry Wootliff, cinematographer Ashley Connor, and editor Tim Fulford match the actress’s commitment and honor the character’s transformation, particularly in a fluid, lovely sequence near the end that sees Kate smitten with a street performer’s rendition of a Chopin piece, then segues to her dancing in a club to PJ Harvey’s “Rid of Me.”
The moment is reminiscent of the final scene of Claire Denis’s “Beau Travail,” in which the lead character also comes to some sort of self-discovery on the dance floor, but without that movie’s sense of it being both a realization and annihilation. While “True Things” cannot compare to that masterpiece of French cinema, it does present an intriguing portrait of a well-behaved young woman who despite a proper upbringing is left to wish for more out of life and love.
Defying tragedy, her connection with a heedless, even dangerous man is a catalyst for positive change, not an endpoint.