All the Bright Places Parent Guide

Violet Markey (Elle Fanning) is grieving over the death of her sister when she meets Theodore Finch (Justice Smith), a classmate who others describe as a “freak”. When given a class assignment to find local wonders, the two become close friends. As they work through their own past traumas and scars, they learn to find joy and meaning in even the smallest moments.

All the Bright Places is based on a bestselling novel by Jennifer Niven. I must disclose that I have not read the book, or even heard of it before seeing this movie, therefore I cannot speak to how faithful the film adaptation is, though I’m sure there are many fans already out there already screaming about it.

The first half of this movie I really enjoyed. The characters of Violet and Finch feel relatable and the themes are timely and relevant. Mental health, grief, and suicide are topics that should be discussed and explored with teenagers, and the first half of this film does a really good job with that. At some point along the way, though, those messages get a little mixed up. Any discussion about these particular topics is complicated and difficult, and I feel that there are parts of this movie that could be taken in an unhealthy way. Meaningful connections with other people are an essential part of taking care of our mental health and overcoming trauma but expecting other people to “fix” us is unrealistic and often dangerous. Sadly, the story is often unsuccessful at walking that fine line. Violet opens up and begins to move through her grief through her relationship with Finch as he shows her how to find wonder in everyday life. This, I think, is a successful part of the narrative. However, on the flip side, Finch seems to deteriorate as he gives so much to Violet.

I believe strongly in discussing mental health disorders, suicidal thoughts, and grief: these issues are common for teenagers and they need to know that they’re not alone and help is available. All the Bright Places shows us that suicide has strong ripple effects and hurts those who are left behind. But it also shows that people who didn’t care about you or treated you badly will feel bad and you will become immortalized if you do kill yourself. This romanticizing of suicide is dangerous, especially for the teenagers who are the intended audience of this film.

Overall, this is a complicated issue and I think that there are various points of this production that could be argued as being positive or negative. Personally, I thought the message of finding wonder in the everyday is a powerful and important one. Some of the other messages, however, are ambiguous or even problematic.

The content of this movie is another area where it falls short. In exploring the kind of issues that it does, I think that some profanity might be understandable, but multiple F-bombs seem excessive for a production aimed at teens. The sex scene between Violet and Finch is unnecessary and more explicit than it needs to be. There are no consequences for it, either positive or negative. They sleep together and then never speak of it again, so why have it at all? Netflix has more flexibility with content than traditional theatrical releases, but they don’t seem to realize that “just because you can doesn’t mean you should”.

In brief, All the Bright Places is well made and well-acted, though its overall messages and questionable content render it unsuitable for teen audiences.