The Starling Girl, a 2023 drama from the United Kingdom and the United States, follows a teenager whose faith, family, and first steps toward independence collide inside a tightly controlled religious community.
What is The Starling Girl about?
Seventeen-year-old Jem Starling has grown up inside a Christian fundamentalist congregation where every part of life, from clothing to courtship, is shaped by the church's expectations. She is restless in ways she cannot fully name until Owen, a magnetic young pastor, returns to lead the congregation and unsettles the careful order Jem has always lived within. Director Laurel Parmet builds the film around Jem's interior conflict rather than external plot mechanics, tracking how a teenager tests the boundaries of a world built entirely around obedience. Eliza Scanlen carries the film as Jem, with Lewis Pullman as Owen and a supporting cast that fills out Jem's family and church community, giving the story a lived-in sense of a place where everyone knows everyone's business.
About the cast
Eliza Scanlen leads as Jem, opposite Lewis Pullman's Owen, with Wrenn Schmidt, Jimmi Simpson, Claire Elizabeth Green, Austin Abrams, Chris Dinner, and Paige Leigh Landers filling out the congregation and Jem's household. The ensemble keeps the film grounded in a specific, closely observed community rather than a generic small-town backdrop.
Context & significance
The Starling Girl is a British-American co-production that has met a broadly favourable reception, part of a wave of independent dramas examining coming-of-age within strict religious upbringing. Laurel Parmet's direction favors close, patient camerawork over melodrama, letting Jem's contradictions surface gradually rather than through big confrontations, which is part of why the film has drawn attention on the festival and awards circuit for its lead performance.
Watching The Starling Girl on Ktime
The Starling Girl is available on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, giving Farsi-speaking viewers full access to its dialogue-driven storytelling. A free K-Time account login is required to watch, though the film's page can be read without signing in, and the platform's Farsi-first design is built for the Iranian diaspora.