Is Luckiest Girl alive based on a true story?
The new film has proven very popular with Netflix subscribers. **WARNING: Contains spoilers for Luckiest Girl Alive**
Mila Kunis takes on the lead role of Ani in Luckiest Girl Alive – the new film which has proven very popular with Netflix subscribers since landing on the streamer on Friday 7th October.
The film tells the story of a woman who seemingly has a perfect life until we learn she's masking a deeply traumatic past that she's never fully confronted – that is until she's asked to take part in an interview for a new true crime documentary.
Many viewers have been wondering whether the film is a work of fiction or if it is inspired by a true story – read on for everything you need to know.
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Is Luckiest Girl alive based on a true story?
Although the film is based on a fictional novel, writer Jessica Knoll has explained that she was inspired to write the story based on her own personal experiences.
In the film, lead character Ani is the victim of a horrific sexual assault, and Knoll has explained that she herself experienced a similar incident in her own life.
She first disclosed this information in a letter she wrote for Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter newsletter in 2016, which itself inspired the personal essay Ani writes at the film's climax.
"I always feel a little undeserving of being called like brave or courageous, because I had to (open up) in fiction," she explained in a recent interview with Today.
"There were these dueling things inside of me. I desperately craved the release of getting my story out on paper, and the validation of recognizing what had happened to me as rape. I needed that."
She added: "But on the other hand, I was frightened that people would read it and come to the same conclusion that people did when I was in high school, which was that no violation had occurred and that I had somehow participated in it."
So, although the specifics of what happens in the film – including the school shooting incident and the true crime documentary framing – are not based on real events, the film does very much have its roots in reality.
Luckiest Girl Alive is streaming now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
