The story of two head strong young women, Suzanne and Apple, in the sixties. Both defy their parents, make impractical decisions, and spend the rest of the movie overcoming the consequences. And I’m pulling for both of them. The joys of motherhood coexist with the need for abortions. The quirky reality of individual lives coexists with feminist ideology. The two coexist with each other, even if infrequently at great distances. We first see them together in the photography studio of the father of Suzanne’s children - and in one sense, we never leave it because he is not an ordinary shutterbug. Like the film, he is trying to capture the essence of contemporary women as they are, not as men would like to see them. And probably, just like the maker of this film, finances are an issue. He cannot make a living doing what he loves. His suicide launches both women into the rest of their lives which are tracked by a narrator from there on out.
Curiously, the film is partly a musical - because that is Apple’s life. The songs and performances are as goofy as she is. This is not a star is born movie. Thankfully,the skits are short enough to not become too annoying. Not sure how she and her crew can afford to keep their vans running. Perhaps her parents pay for that like they once paid rent for an apartment.
Suzanne is the more conventional of the two as she builds a career and opens a center for pregnant women. Eventuality she will acquire a sweet, loving husband.
No great drama here - but I was pulled into their lives by their combination of risk taking, idealism, and selfishness. They were part of the women’s movement of that era. And their story was never predictable. Suzanne did eventually settle into a conventional life, but only because that’s where love took her. And who knows where Apple will go
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