Horse Girl movie storyline. Sarah (Alison Brie), a socially isolated arts and crafts store employee, finds herself more content in the company of horses and supernatural crime shows than people. But when a series of strangely surreal dreams upend the simplicity of her waking life, Sarah struggles to distinguish her visions from reality. A darkly humorous psychological thriller about a woman’s search for the truth, however abstract it may be.
Horse Girl is a 2020 American psychological drama film directed and produced by Jeff Baena, from a screenplay written by Baena and Alison Brie. It stars Alison Brie, Debby Ryan, John Reynolds, Molly Shannon, John Ortiz, and Paul Reiser. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2020. It was released on February 7, 2020, by Netflix.
In June 2019, it was announced Alison Brie would star in the film, with Jeff Baena directing from a screenplay he wrote with Brie. Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass serve as executive producers under their Duplass Brothers Productions banner, with Netflix distributing.
Horse Girl holds a 71% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 58 reviews, with an average score of 6.3/10. The site’s critical consensus reads: “Horse Girl proves unwilling or unable to explore the deeper themes it addresses, but this unusual drama is anchored by Alison Brie’s committed performance.”
About the Story
Sarah is a shy, introverted young woman who lives quietly and works at a crafts store. In her spare time she visits the grave of her mother, who died by suicide the year before. She also frequents the horse stable where her former horse Willow is boarded, and where she rode in her childhood; Sarah’s recurrent visits visibly annoy the owners.
When Sarah’s roommate Nikki finds her home alone on her birthday, she invites Darren, her boyfriend Brian’s roommate, over for a double date. The four smoke marijuana and have drinks. Sarah listens eagerly as Darren reveals details about himself and his past relationship, but the date is interrupted by her nose bleed. After Darren leaves, Sarah has a bizarre dream in which she is lying face up in a white room with a man and woman also lying down some distance away from her, unaware of their surroundings.
The following morning, Nikki awakens to find Sarah sleeping on the living room floor and large scratch marks running across the wall. Darren returns to the apartment to retrieve his car and asks Sarah on a date. At work, she has another nose bleed. While recovering, she recognizes a man walking outside who resembles the one from her dream. Later, Sarah spends an afternoon with her childhood friend Heather who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a riding accident causing her recurrent seizures and short term memory loss.
A series of bizarre incidents soon befall Sarah. While driving home, she stops at a red light near a water facility then finds herself in her kitchen with the tap running, unable to account for the elapsed time. She hears a woman talking indistinctly in another room when no one is home. She finds her car has been stolen from her garage.
Gary, Sarah’s wealthy stepfather, notifies her the car has appeared at a tow yard as the registration is still in his name. He brings her to retrieve it, and the tow driver informs them the car was abandoned near a water facility in the middle of the road.
Later, Sarah apparently sleepwalks out of her apartment and awakens standing outside by a telephone booth. When she returns to her apartment, she discovers that somehow only a couple minutes had passed. At work, her boss, Joan, suggests she visit a doctor given her familial history of mental health problems.
Sarah becomes convinced she is experiencing alien abductions. Due to her striking resemblance to her deceased grandmother, Sarah fears she may be her clone. Meanwhile, she tracks the man from her dream, Ron, to a plumbing store that he owns. While on a date with Darren, Sarah manically confides her belief that she is a clone and has him drive her to her mother’s grave to dig her up and retrieve her DNA. When Darren becomes disturbed, Sarah accuses him of plotting against her, and threatens him with scissors, forcing him to leave her there.
Horse Girl (2020)
Directed by: Jeff Baena
Starring: Alison Brie, Victoria Claire, Debby Ryan, John Reynolds, Molly Shannon, John Ortiz, Jay Duplass, Robin Tunney, Paul Reiser, Matthew Gray Gubler, Meredith Hagner, Zoe Saltz, Angela Trimbur
Screenplay by: Jeff Baena, Alison Brie
Production Design by: Ashley Fenton, Megan Fenton
Cinematography by: Sean McElwee
Film Editing by: Ryan Brown
Costume Design by: Beth Morgan
Set Decoration by: Devynne Lauchner
Art Direction by: Corinne Brown
Music by: Josiah Steinbrick, Jeremy Zuckerman
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Netflix
Release Date: January 27, 2020 (Sundance), February 7, 2020 (United States)
Views: 29
