Even though it seems like not much is going on, there’s a lot more pieces in motion you don’t see in Janet Planet. Annie Baker’s debut film is not a wholesome watch, by any means, and it’s not a film that can (or should) be digested easily. At its core, it’s a story of a deeply flawed human being and a lost child, who happen to be mother and daughter. There are probably tons of ways you can perceive Janet Planet; I’m just going to share how I saw it.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens in the Film?
Eleven-year-old Lacy can’t stand to spend a single day at summer camp as she aggressively calls her mother and pleads with her to take her away—threatening to kill herself if she doesn’t. The next day, when Lacey’s mother Janet arrives with her new boyfriend Wayne, Lacy doesn’t feel like going anymore. She now believes that there’s a chance of her making friends at the camp. However, Lacy still has to leave as Janet already got her money refunded. The rest of the film follows Lacy spending her entire summer with her acupuncturist mother and her interactions with three random people in Janet’s life.
Why Does Wayne Like The Quiet?
It’s quite evident that Lacy doesn’t get along with her mother’s much older boyfriend, Wayne. Not that Wayne, who barely speaks, comes off as someone threatening, but he doesn’t try to develop any sort of relationship with Lacy either. When Lacy meets Wayne’s daughter Sequoia, the two sort of hit it off, but that’s just for a day. With Sequoia gone, it’s Lacy, Janet, and Wayne again. It almost becomes a competition between Lacy and Wayne to get Janet’s attention. Lacy can’t sleep without her mother, and when Janet says it’s not going to happen, she asks for a “piece” of her mother. It becomes abundantly clear that Janet is everything in her daughter’s life, and other than her mother, Lacy has absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, Wayne struggles with migraines, and one night he just can’t take Lacy’s presence in the room and shuts the door in her face. It can be theorized here that the man most probably had a terribly chaotic life, and with Janet, all he seeks is some peace. It was inevitable that Wayne and Janet wouldn’t last; in fact, Lacy mentions to her mother that she should break up with the man. That happens anyway, and one day Wayne just vanishes from Janet and Lacy’s lives.
What’s the Deal With Regina?
Lacy comes across Janet’s friend Regina and Avi, the man Regina’s with, at a play. Soon enough, Regina is living with them. Apparently, she had a falling out with Avi, resulting in her moving in with Janet. What we also get to know is that Avi runs a cult, and until recently, Regina was bewitched by the man. As Janet Planet is mostly plays out from Lacy’s perspective, a lot of it seems hazy to us, and I’m quite certain that’s exactly how the director wants us to see it. For a lonely eleven-year-old girl, it’s not at all possible to understand what a cult is and the gravitas of the word. It’s only natural for Lacy to ask her mother about it.
As far as Regina goes, she’s clearly dealing with a breakup and trying her best to pretend with Lacy, although not with Janet. The only real thing that we find out about Regina is that she had an unfortunate mental breakdown as a child, when her father sent her away to live with her grandmother thanks to an anonymous letter he received about his daughter hanging out with the wrong sort of crowd. Regina is also critical about the kind of men Janet likes. Not that she tries to attack Janet about it; in fact, in a very critical scene of the movie, Regina actually happens to believe that Janet is having a moment—where she’s finally coming to terms with the fact that she’s terrible at decision-making—but it backfires as Janet ends up having a rift with her friend. We don’t see the two women having a heated argument, but can we say for certain that it doesn’t happen?
After a while, we see Regina working at an ice cream shop, which Lacy visits. It’s not that Lacy misses Regina at the house, especially considering Regina was being quite condescending about the kid’s habit of using her shampoo and spending way too much time in the toilet, but Lacy probably liked Regina better than Wayne. We don’t see the two of them interacting anymore. Regina will most likely become a fading memory for Lacy sooner rather than later.
What Happens Between Janet and Avi?
I did see this coming. There’s a point in the film where Janet is having a heart-to-heart with her daughter, and she can’t stop talking about how she can make any man fall for her. The moment Avi visits Janet’s house, you can almost see what’s going to happen very soon. Janet even confesses to her daughter that she’s mildly surprised with Avi being much nicer than she would expect. With her friendship with Regina ending just like that, Janet has all the justification in the world to try it out with Avi. Of course, someone like Avi, a soft-spoken man who has all the qualities of being a manipulative cult leader, could never be the right person for anyone, especially Janet. I would even say this only further cements the fact that Janet is doomed for life due to her terrible taste in men. Regina was not wrong, after all!
The scene where Janet and Avi go on a picnic, and then Avi reads a poem in the middle of which Janet zones out is the perfect metaphor for her getting over him. Avi ends up declaring his genuine love for her, but Janet is clearly not in the mood for reciprocating that. In fact, cut to the next scene, we see Janet sitting completely alone—like Avi never happened to her. There’s every chance she told Avi to get out of her life then and there (another thing that we don’t get to see).
What Happens To Lacy and Janet?
If you think about it, it’s heartbreaking that the kid is excessively attached to her mother, and the mother is not at all a suitable one for a kid like Lacy. It’s not that Janet doesn’t love her daughter. In the only proper mother-daughter conversation scene (the same one where she speaks about her power over men), Janet also makes sure to tell her daughter that she wouldn’t ever mind if Lacy dates a woman. She further mentions that she doesn’t see Lacy getting together with a man due to her assertive nature. Naturally, a woman would be a relief for Janet.
It also indicates that Janet does want her daughter to find happiness in life. She admits that she’s anything but happy, and we can see that on her face. And it’s also understandable that she just can’t stop herself from falling for all these men and then discarding them once she reaches the point of realization.
Janet Planet‘s ending scene where Lacy sees her mother dancing with a new man, all happy and good, is an indication of it. By now though, Janet has realized what’s wrong with her mother, and probably also the fact that Janet would never get it right with anyone. What does that mean for Lacy? I can’t say for certain, but after five or six more years, Lacy would probably do a Rory Gilmore. Sure, she doesn’t live in Stars Hollow and is probably not going to turn into as despicable a character as the one I just mentioned, but you get the drift here. Alternatively, Lacy might end up the same as her mother Janet, but probably not as miserable as she’s not going to date men, hopefully.
