Miller's Girl is a 2024 American erotic thiller written and directed by Jade Halley Bartlett, starring Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman.
Cairo Sweet, a young talented writer, embarks on a creative odyssey when her teacher, Jonathan Miller, assigns a project that entangles them both in an increasingly complex web that forces them to confront their darkest selves.
Miller's Girl contains examples of the following tropes:
- Best Friend: Winnie is Cairo's. They live together, dish on their pursuits with each other, and hang out most of the time when they aren't busy with schooling. By the end of the film it's apparent their friendship is over however as Cairo blackmails her.
- Blackmail: Cairo uses the photos of her and Winnie making out for this, so Winnie won't testify against her for Miller to the school board, since it would bring down Fillmore, who Winnie likes.
- Dead Sparks: Their scene together early on makes clear that Jonathan and his wife Beatrice don't have sex much anymore, mostly because both are busy with their careers, with them trying to then but having Interrupted Intimacy when she gets a work call. They later try again, but have a second interruption, before Beatrice tells him she's not attracted to him any more in an argument.
- Erotic Dream: Jonathan can be seen fantasizing as he reads Cairo's story based on them while they're having sex, and he masturbates to it.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: Cairo gets her friend Winnie, who's attracted to her, to make out ostensibly so they can send the photos to Coach Fillmore, who Winnie is into. However, it turns out to be blackmail material actually.
- Leg Focus: Cairo likes to wear skirts which show off her long legs, often with tights as well. The film gives some long shots of them.
- May–December Romance: Cairo, who's 18, tries to seduce her teacher Jonathan, who's much older than her, and he is clearly into her too, though it never becomes an actual romance. Their actors were 31 years apart too.
- Queer Establishing Moment: Winnie urges Cairo to have an affair with Jonathan Miller, her literature teacher, saying she's aiming for Coach Fillmore herself. Cairo acts surprised, saying Winne's a lesbian, which Winnie retorts to by calling herself an “equal opportunist”. Winnie later says she would have sex with Cairo gladly. The two make out eventually in their lingerie, so Winnie can send the photos to Fillmore.
- Romantic Rain: Cairo has her First Kiss with Jonathan while standing outside of her house in the rain.
- Southern Gothic: The film is set in Tennessee, with the protagonist Cairo Sweet being unhappy at her small town life. She lives in a vast, crumbling mansion, starting an affair with her teacher at her best friend's urging, which draws them both into dark aspects of their natures. The woods nearby are said to be dangerous and possibly haunted, as part of the story's setting.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Cairo begins seducing Jonathan Miller, her literature teacher, at the urging of her best friend Winnie, who also wants one with Coach Fillmore. They never do more though than just kiss, but the desire is clearly there. Winnie sends photos of her making out with Cairo to turn Fillmore on too, but he wisely deletes them and turns down the overture.
- The Tease: Winnie shamelessly flirts as the attempts to seduce Coach Fillmore, sprawling around on a desk with her legs splayed, tossing around her hair and using an excuse for her to get his number.
- Youthful Freckles: Cairo is an 18 year old girl who looks fairly young, which gets showcased in part by her freckled nose and cheeks.
