Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)

Director:

Todd Solondz

Guionista:

Todd Solondz (written by)

Release Date:

24 mayo 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Frase comercial:

Not all girls want to play with dolls.

Plot:

Insightful look at an unattractive 7th grader as she struggles to cope with un-attentive parents, snobbish classmates, a smart older brother, an attractive younger sister, and her own insecurities.

Plot Keywords:

Tormented | Brother Sister Relationship | Young Girl | Dysfunctional Family | Humor

Awards:

4 wins & 11 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

painfully true examination of the horror that is childhood

Cast

Heather Matarazzo	...	Dawn Wiener
Victoria Davis	...	Lolita
Christina Brucato	...	Cookie
Christina Vidal	...	Cynthia
Siri Howard	...	Chrissy
Brendan Sexton III	...	Brandon McCarthy (as Brendan Sexton, Jr.)
Telly Pontidis	...	Jed
Herbie Duarte	...	Lance
Scott Coogan	...	Troy
Daria Kalinina	...	Missy Wiener
Matthew Faber	...	Mark Wiener
Josiah Trager	...	Kenny
Ken Leung	...	Barry
Dimitri DeFresco	...	Ralphy (as Dimitri Iervolino)
Rica Martens	...	Mrs. Grissom

También conocida como:

Faggots and Retards (USA) (working title)
Middle Child
Bienvenido a la casa de muñecas (Spain) [es]
Mi vida es mi vida (Argentina) [es]

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Duración:

88 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Dolby

Clasificación:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Finland:K-12 | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Iceland:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Germany:12 (w) | Norway:11 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

West Caldwell, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Suburban Pictures

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Steve is Singing "Welcome to the Dollhouse", his lip movements do not match up with the words when the scene is up close of him about to finish the song. this is due to another actor dubbing his singing voice.

Quotes:

Dawn Weiner: [after troy gets punched] Troy, are you okay?
Troy: Leave me alone, Wienerdog!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Soundtrack:

The Hummingbird Anthem

painfully true examination of the horror that is childhood

Grimly convincing portrayal of life in junior high school for the unpopular. If you aren't blown away by how realistic this is then you weren't unpopular enough: this is the real deal.

This movie strips away the rosy patina of nostalgia that covers most other films that portray the grim nature of childhood. I admire the film for avoiding the common trap of making the lead an innocent victim. Heather is, when the opportunity arises, just as cruel as anyone else in the film. The movie doesn't make Heather a child, but instead makes her a confused human being full of conflicting emotions such as hatred, lust, anguish and guilt.

I think to understand this movie though, you need to realize that you are viewing everything from Heather's point of view. Teachers and parents are ridiculously unfair, classmates are alarmingly sadistic, and you could point at some action and say, oh, I doubt that would happen, but there's a strong emotional truth; this is what it feels like to be an unhappy child.

When I watch movies about unpopular kids, I am always disappointed because their lives are better than mine was, and this is the first movie I could point to and say, if you want to see what I was dealing with in Junior High, watch Dollhouse. But while I always wanted a movie that shows the unvarnished truth, it is really difficult to watch. Although if you can make it through the first half hour it gets just a shade less horrific. And it does have a quirky sense of humor that lightens it some. I avoided this movie for years because I was afraid it would be too painful, and a friend said no, it's not that painful, and she was sort of right and sort of wrong. But it's definitely worth seeing.