Phoebe in Wonderland is a 2008 psychological drama fantasy film, written and directed by Daniel Barnz. The film stars Elle Fanning in the titular lead role of character Phoebe Lichten, a schoolgirl with undiagnosed mental health issues.
Phoebe is a creative child, but she struggles to fit in at her elementary school due to the rigidity of the structure and the stifling social norms. After a series of incidents during which Phoebe spits on another student, her mother, a creative author, reluctantly takes her daughter to a psychologist. Torn between her own selfish pretensions of Phoebe as "gifted" and the increasing threat that Phoebe poses to herself as she develops obsessive rituals of self-harm, Phoebe's mother tries to help her daughter fit in while trying not to label her in the process.
Phoebe finds kindred spirits in Jamie, an effeminate boy who likes playing with dolls and is a frequent target for bullies, and also in Miss Dodger, an eccentric drama teacher who is putting on a school play of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Phoebe wins the lead role, and thrives in the play's wacky, creative environment.
The film raises points about modern child psychology, labelling young children, self-advocacy for mentally-disabled children, and the fine line between creative devotion and mental illness. Phoebe is eventually diagnosed at the end of the film, and the Lichten family are able to accept her for who she is.
Compare Alice in Wonderland (which the film references).
This film provides examples of:
- Ambiguous Gender: Jamie is a boy who plays with dolls, likes girly things and wants to be the Red Queen in the school play. He unfortunately has his costume for the play defaced with a homophobic slur painted on it.
- Blasphemous Boast: Hillary Lichten, Phoebe's mother, considers her children gifted and compares Phoebe's "poetry" to the work of esteemed classic writer E.E. Cummings to impress her friends (it doesn't).
- Child Prodigy: Hillary views her daughters as gifted child prodigies who are talented and creative beyond their years. Whether or not this is actually true is explored when one of the daughters begins acting out and failing to assimilate with her peers in school.
- Creepy Child: Phoebe's imaginary friend Alice is cute and charming at first, luring Phoebe into escapism, but it becomes alarmingly creepy when the imaginary little girl lures Phoebe, alongside Ms. Dodger, to "jump", resulting in Phobe jumping off a catwalk in school and breaking her arm.
- Disappointing Older Sibling: Olivia (Bailee Madison), Phoebe's little sister, often doesn't get nearly as much attention as Phoebe and is angry at Phoebe for having mental health issues and stressing out the family.
- Eccentric Artist: Miss Dodger.
- Phoebe, to a lesser extent.
- Imaginary Friend: Phoebe has visions of "Alice" (played by Tessa Albertson) who frequently lures Phoebe into deeper illusions.
- The Mentally Disturbed: Few people seem to realize or care that Phoebe's behaviour is a side-effect of a mental disorder. Her mother sees it as mere quirkiness at first, but when Phoebe escalates into acts of self-harm, it becomes clear that something is wrong. Phoebe is eventually told that she has Tourette syndrome, which actually gives her a sense of peace and self-acceptance with who she is.
- Reformed Bully: Monica (played by Caitlin Sanchez), a prissy popular girl and implied to be the bully who defaced Jamie's Red Queen costume, reforms in the film's final act, helps with the play, and even develops a sort of respect for Phoebe as a person, despite having teased her and called her "crazy" before.
- School Play: One of the main points in the film's plot is Phoebe's involvement in a school play of Alice in Wonderland.
- Vicariously Ambitious: Hillary is a career writer and wants her "gifted" daughters to be just as intellectual and ostentatious as she is. She dresses up her 7-year-old daughter as Karl Marx for Halloween, saying, "it's esoteric, sweetie" when the daughter complains that nobody even knows what she's supposed to be dressed up as. Hillary would also rather have people thinking of her daughter as a creative prodigy with quirks than as a mentally ill child who needs help and support, which becomes a problem as the film continues.
- You Are Fat: One of Phoebe's tics causes her to say inappropriate things; while trick-or-treating with her little sister, Phoebe calls an obese lady a "fat pig".
