Detailed impactful content guide: Luckiest Girl Alive
Caitlin on Oct. 14, 2022
Warning: The Netflix film Luckiest Girl Alive has an age rating of 16 with a note for rape, content that may disturb, violence, offensive language, and mass shooting. This guide contains spoilers for the film and discusses content that might be challenging for some viewers, including rape, bullying, violence and the impacts of these experiences.
The rape scene
39:04–43:14 minutes
In a flashback, the scene begins with a close up of Ani’s face blinking and looking around the bathroom at a broken mirror and blood on the side of the toilet. Sound effects include water dripping, Ani breathing and faint music playing in the background. Ani is lying on the ground and is visibly confused and upset. She looks up and sees Peyton’s head between her legs, and it’s implied that he is performing oral sex on her. The door opens and Liam says to Peyton “Shit Peyton, yo holy fuck, you’re still at it? What the… [laughs]”. Peyton tells him to “fuck off”. Peyton gets up and promises to hang out with Ani, then leaves.
Ani stumbles out of the bathroom and down the hallway. She is clearly intoxicated and can barely stand. Peyton helps/drags her down the hallway and passes her to Liam, instructing him to take care of his girl. Liam holds her, strokes her face and says “Hey, I got you”.
In the next shot, Ani is back on the ground, yelling “ow” and crying. Her bodily movements suggest that Liam is on top of her, penetrating her. She is breathing heavily and tries to push him away with his hand. Instead he kisses her hand. He smiles at her while she looks away, breathing heavily and crying.
The scene cuts to Ani standing up and looking in the mirror. She turns on the tap, washes her hands and splashes her face. She looks down as blood drips on the floor, implying that she is vaginally bleeding. Ani goes upstairs and starts going through drawers in a bedroom looking for clean clothes. She has a towel clutched around her. She puts some pants on as Dean walks into the room. She starts breathing heavily and shaking as he walks towards her. Ani is visibly scared. She tries to leave but he pushes her back down on the bed. After trying to leave again Dean throws her more forcibly on the bed and she screams. Yelling “wait, stop” repeatedly, Ani tries to scramble away from him. He twists her over by her legs as she continues to scream “no” and “stop”. Dean is on top of her and forcibly penetrates her as she screams and tries to fight him off. Ani focuses on a spot on the wall and temporarily stops fighting. Hitting him in the face, she manages to push him off and runs out of the room as he calls after her.
The scene cuts to Ani as an adult woman kicking the back of a taxi driver's chair, clearly overwhelmed and angry after thinking about what happened to her.
Throughout the film the rape is referenced and is shown in short flashbacks.
The ongoing impacts of the rape scene
56:50–59:00 minutes
Liam and Ani walk out of a chemist and to the car. She is holding a small brown bag, presumably containing the morning after pill. She thanks him for taking her and they get in. Liam tells her that she only has a “30 percent chance of getting pregnant, but it is good to be on the safe side”. He drives them to school.
Ani appears very uncomfortable in the front passenger seat. She says “Liam, I just wanted you to know that I didn't mean to hook up with anyone else”. He laughs and says it is no big deal. Ani then says “But I also feel like, I think I was raped”. He appears shocked and asks her if she is insane. He repeats the question and asks her “Do you even know what rape is? Why would you even say that to me?” Ani begins to apologise and says that she doesn’t think that about him.
Dean and Peyton come to the car and start calling to her. They suggest they all have hangovers and help her out of the car. Dean puts his arm around her and says “You are an animal” and instructs their other two female friends that they need to “step it up”. Liam puts his arm around Ani and they walk into school. Mr Larson, the teacher who helped Ani after the rape, watches on.
1:00:03–1:01:47 minutes
Ani is in the headmaster’s office with the male headmaster and Mr Larson. The headmaster asks Ani if she is considering reporting the rape. She asks how that will work and what will happen. He explains that the boys will be questioned by the police and it will potentially be disclosed on their college applications.
He says “If you go down that route you need to be sure what you’re saying, and that can be difficult to determine with so much alcohol involved. The situation has been obfuscated”. Mr Larson defends her and says “There was no obfuscation…she said no”.
Ani is asked if that is true and she visibly begins to panic and says “I don’t know, I don’t know…I didn’t want to…I said ow…I just remember always saying ow. I remember screaming at Dean. I tried to push Liam off me but he thought I was like touching his face, so he kissed me. He was really drunk too.” She has tears on her face and her voice is shaky.
The headmaster picks up a phone and Ani asks what he is doing. He says he is calling her mother as he can’t contact the police without her guardian. Ani says “stop” firmly twice and then says that she has changed her mind about reporting the rape.
1:05:40–1:08:27 minutes
Ani opens her locker that has a message on the inside saying “trash slut”. Peyton sees her and Arthur and says “Aww, it is my two favourite people”. Ani and her friend Arthur keep walking and hold each other's pinkies. Peyton asks Ani “Did you tell the headmaster how much you loved it?” Dean calls them cute and adorable for holding onto each other, then says “Damn you really do have a wide load”.
Arthur turns around and replies “Oh thanks I have been doing squats”. Ani tries to stop Arthur as he and Dean square up towards one another. They begin to hit each other, pushing each other to the ground. No one intervenes. Someone yells “Fuck him up”. They punch each other in the face. A female teacher tries to stop them but Arthur elbows her in the face. She falls and appears to be unconscious on the ground. The students disperse except for Arthur and Ani.
He is expelled for the incident but Ani encourages him to apologise as he didn’t know it was the teacher. She thanks him for standing up for her but he becomes mad because she hasn’t come forward about the rape. They argue and he yells “You apologised to Liam for fuck’s sake, you apologised to your own fucking rapist”. She storms out.
1:19:58–1:21:01 minutes
In the car, after being turned away from a memorial service Ani’s mother angrily confronts her about the night Ani was raped. She asks if it was true. Ani tries to explain that she was drunk, that they were lying and that she didn’t want to but her mother cuts her off. Her mother yells “This is why I say no drinking” and says she will call a lawyer when they get home. Her mother is worried about what people are going to say and Ani appears shocked and upset at her response. Ani tries to tell her mother again but is cut off when her mother says “You disgust me…you are not the daughter I raised”.
The bullying and self-harm reference
1:01:52–1:04:33 minutes
Ani runs to Arthur’s house and tells him that Mr Larson (the teacher that helped her after the rape) had been fired. They hug and she says “They said that he shouldn't have let us leave the school dance”. Arthur says that Mr Larson is the scapegoat and that “Dean is fucking untouchable”. They go inside and down to the basement.
Another friend, Ben, is there smoking what appears to be marijuana. Ben offers her the joint but she says no, saying she can’t breathe. Arthur wants to tell her something but Ben stops him. Arthur then starts telling a story, saying “Two summers ago Dean and Peyton showed up to Kelsey Quick’s eighth grade graduation party. They were all 16 and fucked up, and you know, like…” Ben interrupts and says that he thought they were being nice to him and said they wanted to “smoke up with them”. Arthur continues the story and says they “went into the woods, where Peyton pinned Ben to the ground and Dean took a shit on Ben’s chest. I heard that he ate a burrito that day in preparation”. Ben gets upset, says “Fuck you Arthur, you’re such a fucking prick man” and storms out.
Arthur goes on to tell Ani that after the incident in the woods “[Ben] ran straight to Suburban Square, went to the Rite Aid and bought a pack of razors and slit his wrists in the bathroom”. Arthur tells Ani that Ben’s parents sent him away for the summer because of the self-harm.
Ani is confused about why Arthur is mad and he says it is because Ben did nothing about what happened. He then says “And now here it is happening again and here you are, keeping that runway free and clear for it to keep happening”. Ani shakes her head and says her mom can’t know, saying that he doesn't know what she is like. He doesn’t understand and she cries.
The school shooting scene
1:10:11–1:17:48 minutes
In the present day, Ani is being interviewed as part of a documentary about the school shooting. She begins to recall her experience. The scene changes to a flashback. There is an explosion in the school cafeteria where she is waiting in line behind Dean. Along with other students they are thrown across the room. The sprinklers go on and the lights go out. Ani is on the ground and her ears are ringing from the sound of the explosion. A friend helps her up and they run out of the room together. They hear gunshots and students screaming. People are running in all directions. They run up the stairs together and come into a corridor where the shooter has already been. Lamps and furniture are lying across the floor. They walk quietly and then run into a room close by with other students.
Peyton is in the room and says he saw someone with a gun. They all begin to hide except for a girl who is trying to get reception on her cellphone. She is shot through a door window and falls onto a couch. The shooter pushes his way into the room. He says “Hey Tiff” and Ani sees that it is Ben. Adult Ani explains that he was a victim, which is where their understanding came from. Ben says “Hi” to Peyton and asks him if he wants to go to the woods. Peyton starts saying sorry but Ben cuts him off by shooting him. Students, including Liam, try to help Peyton but Ani encourages them to leave after picking up a small knife. Ani, Liam and her friend run down the stairs as Ben shoots at Liam. Liam can’t keep up because he is injured. Ani initially holds the door for him but stops holding it open as Ben gets closer. There is another gunshot, implying that Liam has been shot again.
Ani and the friend run back into the cafeteria and see Dean injured and sitting on the floor. Arthur, who also has a gun, walks in and fires a shot to give them a fright. Arthur tells the friend to leave but doesn’t let Ani or Dean. Arthur gives the gun to Ani, wanting her to shoot Dean. She whimpers and holds the gun while looking at Dean. Arthur gets sick of waiting, grabs the gun from her and shoots Dean. Dean screams and slumps down further on the ground. Ani pulls the knife out and stabs Arthur in the throat. They both fall to the ground as Arthur gasps for air. The flashback ends with Ani whimpering. Adult Ani talks about how she can’t hold a knife without seeing Arthur’s face.
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