If you’ve watched enough movies, odds are you’ve seen the same story told in many different ways. In the case of The Bearded Girl, it’s a coming of age story of a girl coming from a controlling family who wants something different for herself. On the surface it’s a story that’s been told time again. In this case however the main character is a circus freak, which allows the same old story to be told in a very different way.

As the oldest girl in the family, Cleo (Anwen O’Driscoll) knew the day would come when she started to grow her beard. It happened to her mother, her grandmother, and every first born daughter 80 generations back.  At first she looked forward to becoming the leader of the group of sideshow performers. But after butting heads with her mother over the direction the show should take she decides she wants to try something a little different with her life.  So instead of going forward with the ritual where she’d take over, she shaves off her beard and runs away from home and falls in love. Unfortunately for her, and her family, if she doesn’t claim her birthright a local businessman will be able to take control of the land and build a casino resort and end a legacy that has spanned hundreds of years.

While the title may make you think that The Bearded Girl would play a lot of things for laughs, it really doesn’t. Somehow it takes the topics and turns it into a regular coming of age movie. The eccentric characters will manage to peek your curiosity, simply because they are odd, but they come off as being almost too normal in the way they act. Sure they spend some of the time talking about their little group and the importance of what they do, but that’s really as far as it goes.

As difficult as that sounds, it’s even more difficult to turn such a lovely opportunity into something that doesn’t use their gifts.  It’s like the writers wanted everyone to know that while the situation is absurd, the people at heart aren’t. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does prevent the film from standing out like it otherwise could have.

The Bearded Girl does have its charms however. Jessica Paré and O’Driscoll play extremely well off of each other as the feuding mother and daughter, which is definitely one of the highlights. The most compelling part of the film however is the overall look of it. The cinematography is simply beautiful, and creates a stylized canvas for the characters to play on. You get a real sense of being in small town America, framed behind a colourful lens. You can tell they took time with each shot to make sure it was done perfectly.

There’s technically nothing wrong with The Bearded Girl, but even though there are plenty of opportunity to do so, the film doesn’t stand out either. You generally don’t watch a movie because it looks beautiful, you watch it because it offers something different. The Bearded Girl had that chance and let it pass it by.