Meredith Alloway’s Forbidden Fruits, based on the play “Of The Woman Came The Beginning of Sin and Through Her We All Die” by Lily Houghton, follows the employees of Free Eden – Apple (Lili Reinhart), Cherry (Victoria Pedretti), and Fig (Alexandra Shipp) as they welcome new hire Pumpkin (Lola Tung) to their cult-like sisterhood. As tensions rise and secrets are revealed, said sisterhood is tested to its limits.
I sat down with director/co-writer Alloway and the main cast (Reinhart, Pedretti, Shipp, and Tung) to discuss what the film means as a work of modern feminist horror.
Diablo Cody is credited as a producer on the film and has writing credits for cult classic films such as 2009’s Jennifer’s Body, a titan of modern feminist horror. I asked Alloway what having Cody on board the project meant to her, as well as how Forbidden Fruits deals with female relationships similarly to films like Jennifer’s Body.
Alloway said, “[I]t’s a dream to have [Cody] as a producer and a mentor… she really gave [co-writer] Lily Houghton and me confidence to really go for it and preserve our vision.”
“[Cody is] a risk taker. She’s very radical, and Jennifer’s Body was very misunderstood at the time, because we all know, the studio didn’t know how to market it at the time, and I think we’re very lucky to have collaborators who, I think, really understand our movie and put it out there.”
Alloway considers the dynamic between the main characters to be multifaceted, saying the film allows the female friendships to “exist in the gray areas and the multitudes that I think female friendships can.”
Reinhart added that it’s as if the audience isn’t sure if they’re going to “kiss or kill each other.” Shipp added that the film is very sapphic in the same way that Jennifer’s Body is.
When asked about how tension was created during scenes of the girls arguing, Tung explained how, as the actor, it’s important “to see where your character is coming from, and they can’t be a villain to you…everything that they care about you kind of have to care about in a really serious way.” Tung credits Alloway and Houghton for writing the characters meticulously and with clear motivations.
Pedretti added that there is an intense love involved in conflict. Shipp furthers that statement by explaining the depth of female relationships and how loving deeply translates into fighting deeply.
The costuming, done by costume designer Sarah Millman, is easily one of the most visually striking parts of the film. I asked the girls if they had any significant input on those aspects of their characters.
Reinhart immediately noted, “Super collaborative,” and talked about texting back and forth with Millman for weeks before shooting began. She described it as “a two-way street, not anything else.”
The rest of the girls agreed on the collaborative nature of the costuming process and the supportive set. Shipp said that the energy Alloway created allowed them to truly live in their characters.
Alloway supported this, saying she intentionally avoided focusing on the characters’ bodies as a source of judgment.
Pedretti added how the film allowed her to explore self-confidence, talking about her experience shooting other projects compared to Fruits. She said that “to be able to play a person who has my body type and is wearing it confidently” led to a friend of Alloway’s feeling more confident in herself as well.
Alloway explained how the costuming is intentional as a vehicle for the girls’ journeys and self-expression.
Shipp ended our discussion with a core statement: “This is a female gaze movie.”
Forbidden Fruits releases in the United States on March 27.
Courtesy of Nadia Arain
Feature Image Credit to IFC via Deadline