(Credit: TIFF)

In the late 1960s, when ideology-based communes and experimental living situations were sprouting everywhere, a counterculture American couple, weary of ‘corporate America’ and ‘establishment values,’ moved to the western Canadian wilderness to live what they viewed as a more free, natural lifestyle. They brought their pregnant teenage daughter, Michelle, who soon afterwards gave birth to a daughter. That daughter, Cea Sunrise Person, went on to become a model and fashion entrepreneur and eventually to write a bestselling memoir of her life with this unusual family, one that was by turns humourous and bitter. Director Carly Stone’s latest film, North of Normal, is an adaptation of that memoir, one that captures the tone and the mixed feelings of the original book and the emotional adventure that was Cea’s upbringing.

Talented young newcomer River Price-Maenpaa plays Cea as a child in a charming and perfectly naturalistic performance that provides a child’s-eye-view of family events. It demonstrates Cea’s innocent acceptance of her way of life, residing in tents in the forest with minimal material goods but affection and security. The film presents the wild environment as if from little Cea’s point of view, beautiful and fascinating but familiar rather than imposing. Along with basic education and literacy, she happily learns wilderness skills and becomes adept with a bow and arrow (a favourite part of the performance for the young actress who played Cea). At the same time, the audience is provided with background information and practical concerns Cea would have been unaware of. Unhesitatingly accepting the philosophy of her beloved grandparents, ‘Papa Dick’ (Robert Carlyle) and Grandma Jeanne (Janet Porter), Cea enjoys most aspects of her life. She tolerates her mother Michelle’s endless series of short-term boyfriends, welcomed in keeping with the family’s dedication to the philosophy of free love.

Cea’s situation changes when her mother, Michelle (Sara Gadon), who seems to have little skill at choosing partners, decides to move to the city with her latest boyfriend, taking Cea along with her. Outside the confines of the familiar commune, Cea is slightly out of her depth and ill-prepared for life in the wider world. Due to her grandparents’ love and support, Papa Dick’s exhortations to “never give in to fear,” and her own natural confidence, Cea is able to adapt; she attends school for the first time and finds ways to succeed despite her lack of formal education.

The film does its best work in following the changing relationship between Cea and her mother and the ways it changes Cea’s worldview. As the child grows and gains experience, she moves on from naive acceptance of her mother’s attitude and way of life to questions and concerns. Cea comes to realise that her mother often provides for them through various forms of theft or fraud, justified by a twisted version of her parents’ anti-capitalism. As she grows still older, she becomes increasingly disturbed by her mother’s practical and emotional dependence on the men in her life, which she begins to see as a lack of self-esteem and independence and by the absence of security and stability in their life. The development of the mother-daughter relationship is beautifully handled by the duo of Sarah Gadon and television actress Amanda Fix as the adolescent and young adult Cea.

Although personal relationships are central to the plot, the theme of youthful idealism and its disappointing failures runs through the film. As Cea grows and becomes more aware of the realities of life with Michelle, she also begins to rethink her own childhood and identify flaws in her grandparents’ highly touted chosen lifestyle. Memories surface of times when Cea was left unprotected or inadequately cared for and even harmed in the name of freedom and independence. A brief visit from the ageing and unwell but still determinedly counterculture Papa Dick is a touching and pivotal moment, which offers Cea tragic insight into her own life and her family. Michelle, herself, is held up as someone who has adopted the hypothetical values of her parents’ commune but maintained only a sadly corrupted version of them. Cea’s growing awareness comes between them and leads to the sad but ultimately positive decision by Cea to let go of the past and find her own way.

The film is essentially a poignant, well-told story that takes the entertaining but superficial account of a hippie commune childhood and the difficulties in adapting to a more conventional existence and turns it into a study of ideals, self-image, responsibility, love, loss, and aspirations. The family dynamic, which is the vehicle for it all, is perfectly managed by the brilliant cast, and Cea’s uncomfortable but hopeful journey is made both dramatic and completely identifiable. It’s an engrossing tale and one of the best-directed film adaptations of the year.