Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Miller’s Girl
Miller’s Girl includes a nebulous ending with concerning messages about teacher-student relationships. This thriller starts out with an opulent 18-year-old named Cairo Sweet (Jenna Ortega) trying to pinpoint her greatest achievement. Despite her academic successes, she thinks that she hasn’t actually experienced anything real. Her friend, Winnie (Gideon Aldon), jokingly suggests that she get into a student-teacher relationship. Cairo decides she wants to follow this advice, setting her eyes on Mr. Jonathan Miller (Martin Freeman), her creative writing teacher. Even before she starts expressing her interest, Mr. Miller becomes infatuated with Cairo’s intellect and literary prowess.
Mr. Miller starts mentoring her one-on-one, showing her preferential treatment, and seeing her outside of school – crossing the boundaries of what’s appropriate. This continues to develop, leading to an incident of physical intimacy between the two. Following the guidelines of her midterm assignment, she proceeds to write a smutty short story about her and Mr. Miller, to which he masturbates. However, Mr. Miller then abruptly cuts off their relationship, far too late. In revenge, Cairo slips the short story to the vice principal. Jenna Ortega’s controversial movie ends with a problematic message that has been heavily rebuked.
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Does Mr. Miller Get Fired From His Teaching Job In Miller’s Girl?
The question that takes up most of Miller’s Girl’s ending is whether Mr. Miller will get fired from his teaching job due to his illicit relationship with Cairo. Mr. Miller has massively crossed the boundaries of what is appropriate many times, but his actions remain a secret for most of the movie. However, the probability of him facing repercussions becomes likely when Cairo turns in her writing assignment to the vice principal. The principal interviews both of them and learns about all the inappropriate behaviors.
After their interview, Mr. Miller is suspended from his job and could be fired pending a hearing by the school board. Cairo decides she will testify against him at the hearing. While Miller’s Girl seemingly portrays Cairo as the villain in this situation for going to the vice principal and testifying, the reality is that none of this would even have happened if Mr. Miller had set boundaries and followed the proper protocol. As the person who holds all the power in this situation, the onus of responsibility falls on him to prevent an inappropriate relationship from developing.
What Happens In Mr. Miller & Cairo’s Relationship
Cairo and Mr. Miller’s relationship starts before they even meet for the first time. She becomes obsessed with his book, which creates a parasocial relationship in her mind. They finally meet when he becomes her creative writing teacher. While she expresses interest in him, he becomes enamored with her, even celebrating her being in his class with his wife. The teacher and student then grow closer and start to develop an inappropriate relationship when they go to the poetry reading.
Miller’s Girl never directly confirms the extent of Mr. Miller and Cairo’s physical relationship; however, details provided in the movie do hint at the answer. Firstly, when they go to the poetry reading, Mr. Miller chooses to sit directly up against her on a couch when there is space to sit apart. He seems to be grooming her to be more comfortable with him touching her.
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Then, when he brings her the phone, she tells him to come to her. He responds by commanding her to come to him, at which point they start making out in the rain. The movie doesn’t show anything more than this; however, it’s heavily implied that the physical relationship went further. After all, she writes an entire short story about them having sex. When he asks why she did it, she reminds him that he said to write what she knows. They share a knowing look at this point, signaling that she is pulling from their real encounter.
Additionally, during the interview with the principal, Mr. Miller skirts around the issue of what happened when he went to return her phone. This is one of the many moments where Martin Freeman really thrives as a part of the Miller’s Girl cast. His body language conveys that he’s holding back information every time he answers a question. He also reveals that he went inside the house – which wasn’t shown on camera. Considering his evasiveness and the details left out from their encounter, they might’ve performed other physical acts that Miller’s Girl didn’t depict.
Why Is Mr. Miller And Cairo’s Relationship Inappropriate?
Mr. Miller’s relationship with Cairo is deeply inappropriate throughout the entirety of Miller’s Girl. The student-teacher dynamic is the most obvious reason that the relationship between Mr. Miller and Cairo should never happen. It doesn’t matter that Cairo is of legal age because Mr. Miller is in a position of power and authority over her. This makes it wildly inappropriate for him also to have a platonic, romantic, or sexual relationship with her. However, the issues with Cairo and Mr. Miller’s relationship run much deeper, too.
Cairo is barely 18, meaning her prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain that controls decision-making and impulsivity – isn’t fully developed. Meanwhile, Mr. Miller seems more than twice the age of his student. Even if Miller’s Girl’s age gap is technically legal, the large age difference, combined with Cairo’s immature brain, creates a power imbalance that makes the relationship inappropriate.
On top of this, another dynamic is at play here that makes Cairo and Mr. Miller’s relationship extremely problematic and wrong. Cairo is established from the very start of the film as an aspiring writer. She owns and is obsessed with Mr. Miller’s book Apostrophes and Ampersands: Six Abysmally Romantic Short Stories. This creates a massive power imbalance between the two. Since Cairo idolizes Mr. Miller’s success in the writing field, she’s particularly vulnerable to attention from the teacher.
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Winnie And Coach Fillmore’s Relationship Explained
One thing that motivates Mr. Miller to feel like he’s doing nothing wrong by engaging with Cairo is watching Coach Fillmore’s (Bashar Salahuddin) relationship with Winnie. While at face value, it may not seem as bad, Coach Fillmore’s behavior toward Winnie is equally inappropriate. He willingly gives his phone number to a student who behaves sexually towards him and then responds to her sexually charged texts rather than ignoring them. Coach Fillmore verbally flirts with her on multiple occasions with heavy innuendo. Later, he has to delete incriminating texts.
Toward the end of Miller’s Girl, he lectures Mr. Miller that the difference between them is that Coach Fillmore knows the line and doesn’t cross it. He really touts himself as the ideal example of how to navigate a student-teacher relationship. In reality, the only real difference is that he wasn’t sexually involved with Winnie and hasn’t been reported for being verbally inappropriate.
What Really Happens With Mr. Miller’s Wife
Throughout most of Miller’s Girl, Beatrice (Dagmara Domińczyk) is distant from her husband. She spends most of her time on the computer or phone with her writing agent. Beatrice never passes up an excuse to remind Mr. Miller that he’s a teacher, not a writer. She also constantly makes fun of him. This harshness makes Mr. Miller dissatisfied with his marriage. Consequently, he’s more inclined to become involved with Cairo since the student adores him. However, it’s crucial to specify that Beatrice’s actions, while unkind, are in no way to blame for Mr. Miller’s choice to cross the student-teacher boundaries.
As the movie progresses, Beatrice becomes less involved in the plot. When she does appear, she teases Mr. Miller about the fact that his student has a crush on him – not knowing that he’s reciprocating Cairo’s feelings. After getting a call from the school, Beatrice finally sees the full picture. She confronts Mr. Miller about his involvement with Cairo. While he denies everything, Beatrice sees right through her husband. She calls out the fact that Mr. Miller wanted Cairo’s attention, adoration, and validation. While it’s unclear what becomes of their marriage, it’s implied that Beatrice wants to leave him.
The True Meaning Of Miller’s Girl’s Ending
Miller’s Girl seems to be unsure of its main point, catering to moral ambivalence instead of sending a clear message. In one breath, it presents Cairo as a vixen out to get Mr. Miller for underestimating her. In the next, Coach Fillmore and Beatrice call Mr. Miller out for not taking accountability. The film seems like it’s trying to insert ambiguity and nuance into an extremely clear-cut situation. Additionally, it reinforces the harmful stereotype that teenage girls are largely at fault for inappropriate power-imbalanced relationships.
The fact is that a teenager cannot consent to a relationship with an adult twice their age who’s in a position of power over them. It doesn’t matter if she comes onto him. By engaging in the illicit relationship – even if he eventually realizes his mistake – Mr. Miller is the architect of his own demise. As such, audiences should walk away from Miller’s Girl remembering Coach Fillmore’s poignant statement to Mr. Miller: “You are the adult. Show some responsibility.”
Miller’s Girl
- Release Date
- January 26, 2024
- Director
- Jade Bartlett
- Cast
- Martin Freeman , Jenna Ortega , Gideon Adlon , Bashir Salahuddin , Dagmara Dominczyk , Christine Adams
- Runtime
- 93 Minutes
- Writers
- Jade Bartlett
- Studio(s)
- Point Grey Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Lionsgate
