The ghosts of our past continue to haunt us, and sometimes it becomes extremely difficult to pull ourselves out of the bubble. “Luckiest Girl Alive” is a 2022 Netflix drama film that highlights the painful story and suffering of Ani Fanelli. Ani is a successful woman, and over the years, her past didn’t stop her from achieving all that she had ever wanted. But every time she got associated with anyone, Ani put on a fake persona so that people would love her. Even though she knew it was completely wrong, Ani still had no choice but to continue with this. Throughout the entire movie, viewers will question Ani’s strange behavior since she is stuck in the shadows of her past. She never resolved anything from her traumatizing past, since she never wanted to face any of it. But things took a different turn when one of her former classmates, Dean Barton, came forward with his statements that became a part of Ani’s life as well. Ani was approached by Aaron Wickersham, an independent filmmaker, to share her side of the story when Dean blamed Ani for all the negative events in the past. Well, Ani was connected to the deadliest shooting incident in her high school, but this incident had much more history to it than people knew.
Just like every other high school girl, Ani was excited to study amongst the students of Brentley High School. At first, things were fine since she was one of the brightest students in her class, and was often praised for her talents and abilities. But, people around her were not so fond of her as everyone belonged to prestigious families, and they began to differentiate in terms of social class. But Ani was a strong kid, and she easily managed to ignore her bullies and often stood up to them. Throughout the whole night of the Brentley School Dance, Liam was trying his best to grab Ani’s attention, and he knew that she had feelings for him as well. Without any second thoughts, Ani left the party with Liam and Hilary, and the others for Dean’s house. Dean had a different type of party going on at his house, and here everyone was intoxicated with alcohol.
Since Ani lost consciousness, she woke up getting abused by the boys, where she became a victim of gang rape. Ani was so paranoid and drunk that she couldn’t figure out anything that had happened around her. Well, she had trusted Liam, but he had other plans. Once she was completely awake, Ani decided to leave the house, but Dean wouldn’t let her. But somehow, she managed to get past him and approach a local convenience store for help. Fortunately, she ended up meeting her college professor, Andrew. He took her home and made sure that she was completely fine. But the trauma from the incident took away all the happiness that was left in her mind. Andrew wanted her to place an official complaint against the three boys, but she was skeptical about the whole situation.
The next day, Ani shared her point of view with Liam, but he blamed her for overreacting. Andrew decided to take the whole incident to the principal of Brentley, and finally, Ani was ready to withstand her fear and place a complaint against Liam, Dean, and Peyton. But the moment her principal revealed that her mother would be involved in this case, Ani lost it and decided to take back her statements. Arthur and Ben were Ani’s best friends, and both of them were heavily disturbed by everything that had happened to Ani. As Ben was bullied by them, too, Arthur wanted Ani to stand up for her dignity. Ani and her mother, Dinah, were not on good terms, and she never wanted her mother to know about the terrifying party. But Arthur wanted her to fight back; otherwise, they would continue to harass her in the future as well.
Just like Arthur had predicted, the boys wouldn’t leave her alone, and to save her from their lewd comments, Arthur got into a huge fight with Dean. On the other hand, Ani couldn’t figure out the right way to sort things out, so she apologized to Liam. Upon hearing this, Arthur was heavily disturbed, and he requested Ani to respect herself. But Ani left his house on bad terms. The next morning, there was a huge shootout at the school, and guess what? The shooters were Arthur and Ben. Both of them killed everyone who had hurt them or took advantage of them. One by one, everyone was killed, and Dean was the final one to live. Arthur approached Ani with a rifle and suggested to shoot him down. But Ani decided to save him, and killed Arthur instead. Ani rammed a knife through Arthur’s neck and ended up taking his life. To this day, Ani is scared of knives since every time she touches one; it reminds her of Arthur.
Even though Ani saved Dean, he blamed the whole incident on Ani. People started hating her, and everything that she feared fell in front of her eyes at that instant. Dinah didn’t trust her daughter and continued to defy her till the very end of her high school days. The fact that Ani had to recollect all the memories of her past was the toughest part of her entire life. But, she had to clear up her name. The secrets of her past changed her personality and enabled her to create dual personas to make people happy around her. Even if she was ungrateful, her duality made everyone happy. But nothing helped with the painful events of her past until she decided to share her part of the story through Aaron’s documentary. Children are often neglected by their parents, and “Luckiest Girl Alive” sets a huge example. Only if Ani had enough courage to face the world, she would’ve shared all the disturbing events with her mother, but her mother’s ignorance pressured her to adjust to her trauma. Well, Ani didn’t lose hope, and she created her extensive writing career through determination and hope. For once, Ani wanted to become a powerful person whom people would respect and follow.
See More: ‘Luckiest Girl Alive’ Ending, Explained – How Did Ani Expose Dean Barton? Did She Succeed?
