Welcome to the Dollhouse is a 1995 coming of age black comedy. An independent film, it launched the careers of Todd Solondz and Heather Matarazzo.[1]
Plot
Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo), an unattractive and unpopular 7th grader with only one friend, lives in a middle class suburban community in New Jersey where she is bullied in school and deals with crushes and rejection along with family problems such as having inattentive parents, sibling rivalry, and the kidnapping of her sister.
The film starts with Dawn trying to find a seat at her school's cafeteria to have lunch and ending up sitting on a spot where someone previously vomited. During her meal, several cheerleaders tease her and ask Dawn if she is a "lesbo". Her only friend is a fifth grader named Ralphie who seems a bit effeminate himself, and frequently referred to as "fag" throughout the film.
We're next introduced to Dawn's pretentious older brother, Mark. He is a nerdy high schooler who plays the clarinet in a garage band. Throughout the film, he refers to the importance of his future college application. He has a long distance relationship with a girl from summer camp. He neglects to reply to her letters as he believes romantic relationships will hinder his ability to get into a good university. Despite his flaws, he is given slightly more attention and respect from his parents, compared to Dawn.
Dawn's other sibling, her younger sister Missy, is clearly the favorite child in the family. The adorable ballerina, who constantly wears a tutu, wins out any dispute with her siblings, particularly with her mother for her manipulative attitude. She puts this to good use by portraying Dawn as the enemy in front of their mother. It is at this time that we're introduced to Dawn's family: her mother is clearly the one in charge of the house and refuses to acknowledge Dawn as a person but only as a problem. Her father on the other hand is a weak "yes" man who only follows what his wife says. The parents frequently refuse to give Dawn the benefit of the doubt, taking someone else's side other than their daughter's; when Dawn responds in kind to bullies who are firing spitballs at her during a class assembly. Dawn's return fire ends up wounding the eye of a teacher who also dislikes Dawn. (When hearing of this, her mother actually says "Who told you to fight back?".)
Dawn also faces trouble in school, where she is tormented by catcalls of "Wienerdog" and "Dogface" by her peers. All of her teachers tend to give her a hard time as well, compared to the more popular kids in school. Her locker is decorated with vile epithets and insults that the school curiously has not taken measures to clean up. Her toughest bully is Brandon McCarthy (Brendan Sexton III), a possible drug dealer, who threatens her with violence. Another is Lolita, a violent girl who forces Dawn into something degrading while she watches for her own sense of power. Lolita is also attracted to Brandon and threatens Dawn for speaking to him.
Dawn mesmerized over Steve's playing.
We're next introduced to Steve Rodgers (Eric Mabius). Steve is a promiscuous guitar player who is invited to join Mark's remarkably untalented garage band, in return for help in computer science. Dawn immediately falls in love with Steve and ponders the romantic possibilities of their imagined future together. She goes to talk to one of his former flings for advice, but the young girl bluntly says that Dawn can't cut it and is not in Steve's league, even though the girl hates Steve. Mark also tells her that Steve is promiscuous and made out with a girl whom he bluntly says is a "dog".
One day, while playing video games in a convenience store after school, Dawn and Ralphie are harassed by Brandon and his two buddies. Dawn and Ralphie walk away from the confrontation, but not before Dawn calls Brandon a "retard". The next day, at school, Brandon tells Dawn that he plans to rape her at the end of the school day. His first attempt fails, because of the janitor interrupting. He telephones Dawn at home and tells her he is still going to rape her the next day. He then forces her to come with him to a deserted area, but instead of raping her, he opens up to her and tells her of his brother who is mentally handicapped, as she realizes why her earlier comment struck a nerve with him. Then he kisses her and he tells her he is not going to rape her, but will change his mind if she tells anyone about their "date". We can see he actually has feelings for her, hidden behind a threatening personality. Just like Dawn, Brandon has trouble socializing, and reacts with visible hurt and anger when a rich and popular girl mocks him when he asks why he wasn't invited to her birthday party. Dawn was not invited either, but has resigned herself to her fate and doesn't question the exclusion.
Dawn and Brandon form a romantic bond. However, Brandon is angered when Dawn confesses that she can't be his girlfriend because of her feelings for Steve. Brandon is later kicked out of school after being suspected of dealing drugs. Towards the end of the movie, Brandon's father is set on sending him to military school but Brandon decides to run away to New York City, and asks Dawn to go with him. Confused and not knowing what to do, she rejects his offer.
At dinner, Dawn is scolded by her parents. They want her to tear down her dilapidated "Special People Club" clubhouse in the backyard so they can make room for their 20th anniversary party. Despite her pleas that this is her only sanctuary in the world, the clubhouse is demolished by Dawn's siblings in a plan designed by Dawn's mother, who entices them with cake that she pointedly withholds from Dawn.
At the anniversary party, Dawn searches for Steve. She finds him in the garage getting sexual with a girl from the party. Undaunted, Dawn invites him to be a part of what is to be her new, revitalized "Special People Club." Then Steve awkwardly rejects her offer, telling her that "special people" is a term used to identify mentally handicapped people, thus, a club with that name must be for "retards". When Missy pushes Dawn into a kiddie pool during the party, her parents laugh while videotaping the event and later rewind the humiliating footage several times. That night, a furious Dawn takes the videotape they were watching and smashes it to pieces. She then goes into Missy's room with a hammer in hand while she sleeps, but isn't able to attack her sister.
Despite her mother's stern instructions, Dawn intentionally fails to tell Missy to get a ride home from ballet practice. She later gets a phone call from Ralphie but rails about what a "faggot" and a "loser" he is, not caring or knowing that he is silently listening to her. The plan backfires when Missy becomes a missing person. Her parents are devastated, especially after her tutu is found in Times Square, New York City. Dawn decides to go to New York in order to find her and, once there, imagines a scenario in which she rescues Missy and finally wins the love and attention of her parents, siblings, Steve, Brandon, and the entire student body at school. This dream evaporates when she calls home to check in, only to find that Missy is okay. It turns out that a neighbor, Mr. Kasdan kidnapped her to fulfill his fetish of videotaping her while she performed ballet pirouettes. Ironically, Missy enjoyed her time with Mr. Kasdan because he let her eat all the candy and McDonalds food she wanted. We can also see that the parents are a lot more relieved about finding Missy than concerned over Dawn's absence, although it's implied they don't know Dawn was gone at all.
Despite her family's ordeal, Dawn continues to be harassed and teased in school, enduring more insults when she reads a speech thanking the school for the support they gave her family during Missy's kidnapping. Mark tells Dawn that in high school, things improve somewhat because "they call you names, but not as much to your face". In the last scene, we see Dawn reluctantly going on a school chorus field trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Everyone on the bus is singing on the way there, and Dawn joins in as the film ends on her solo voice.
Critical acclaim
The film was a surprise success, considering it was a relatively low budget, independently produced film. It garnered critical praise for its nail biting view of a pre-teen outcast, and won the Grand Jury Prize for best dramatic feature at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. Critic Roger Ebert has been vocal about his love for the film, giving it four stars out of four and placing it at number five on his "Best of 1996" list.[2]
References to the film
- In 2004, Solondz made a sequel, Palindromes, which begins with the words "In Loving Memory of Dawn Wiener," and opens with her funeral, revealing that Dawn went to college, gained a lot of weight and committed suicide.
- The conclusion to the song "Leave the Light On," by Lagwagon, on their album "Let's Talk About Feelings", is a sample from Welcome to the Dollhouse.
- In Nicole Richie's novel The Truth About Diamonds, the protagonist lists Welcome to the Dollhouse as one of her favorite movies.
- A season-six episode of Gilmore Girls is named after the movie.
- Danity Kane has an album with the title Welcome to the Dollhouse
Cast
- Heather Matarazzo - Dawn Wiener
- Victoria Davis - Lolita
- Christina Brucato - Cookie
- Christina Vidal - Cynthia
- Amouris Rainey - Darla
- Siri Howard - Chrissy
- Brendan Sexton III - Brandon McCarthy
- Eric Mabius - Steve
- Telly Pontidis - Jed
- Herbie Duarte - Lance
- Jared Solano - Neko
- Scott Coogan - Troy
- Daria Kalinina - Missy Wiener
- Matthew Faber - Mark Wiener
- Josiah Trager - Kenny
- Ken Leung - Barry
- Dimitri DeFresco - Ralphy
- Rica Martens - Mrs. Grissom
References
External links
