Identity Crisis

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Lore & Background

The film centers on Owen and Maddy, who bond in 1996 over The Pink Opaque, a show about teenagers Isabel and Tara fighting Mr. Melancholy. Maddy feels the show is more real than her life. After she runs away in 2006, she returns to tell Owen they are actually characters inside the show; their memories of real life are merely episodes. She claims to have paid a man to bury her alive to escape into the "Midnight Realm" as Tara. She urges Owen to do the same so they can return to reality as Isabel and Tara. The story draws heavily on Buffy the Vampire Slayer elements and explores the "egg crack," a term for realizing one's identity does not match their assigned sex.

In Their Own Story

In 1996, isolated Owen sneaks out to Maddy's house to watch The Pink Opaque past his bedtime. Two years later, Maddy sobbingly resolves to run away but Owen stays behind. Following her disappearance and his mother's death from cancer, the show is canceled after five seasons. In 2006, Maddy reappears, takes Owen to a bar, and insists he rewatches the final episode where characters are buried alive in the Midnight Realm. After a breakdown where Owen tries to stick his head through the TV, Maddy leads him to a football field for burial. He pushes her away and never sees her again. By 2010, Frank dies of a stroke, and Owen's depression worsens. At a work party, he screams that he is "dying" but is ignored. Alone in a bathroom, he cuts his chest open with a box cutter, smiling when he sees a TV screen inside.

Reader's Guide

The film functions as an allegory for transgender identity, avoiding explicit coming-out plots to focus on the fear of living without transitioning. Schoenbrun describes Owen's refusal to be buried alive as illustrative of this specific existential crisis. Visuals shift from the vibrant world of the fictional show to a cold reality where Owen feels trapped in a body that doesn't fit. The narrative parallels Twin Peaks and The Adventures of Pete & Pete, using ghostly cameos by former child stars like Michael C. Maronna and Danny Tamberelli as neighbors to explore aging and the uncanny. The aesthetic shifts from 35mm film to VHS and Betamax for show segments, mirroring the decay of memory and the distortion of reality as Owen ages.

Did You Know?

• Emma Portner plays four distinct roles: Mr. Melancholy, Marco, Amanda, and Evil Clown.
• Principal photography took place in New Jersey from July to August 2022 at Verona High School and Keansburg Amusement Park.
• Amber Benson, who played Tara Maclay on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, appears as Johnny Link's mom in a cameo Schoenbrun found "healing."
• The film was produced by Emma Stone and Dave McCary under their company, Fruit Tree.
• Jane Schoenbrun began writing the script three months after starting hormone replacement therapy.