How Luckiest Girl Alive Has Upset Sex Assault Survivors

Olivia Petter looks at the Netflix film's worrying portrayal of sexual violence as activists call for stronger trigger warnings

- Olivia Petter

Blink and you might miss the tiny content advisory at the start of Netflix's latest drama Luckiest Girl Alive. Consider this a proper trigger warning. Since releasing it on Friday, the streamer has been criticized for exposing viewers to brutal scenes of sexual violence in a film marketed as a #GirlBoss thriller. The trailer - cascading piano keys give way to skittering strings, as a magazine editor wanders around New York City in a Gucci belt does little to foreshadow the barbarity of what's to come. But watch the film and you'll see that's not the only problem.

Starring Mila Kunis, the film is an adaptation of the bestselling novel of the same name by Jessica Knoll and tells the story of high-flying journalist Ani Fanelli, who was involved in one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. Since then, the 28year-old has been trying to reinvent herself as a successful career woman in New York City with a wealthy fiance. But all this is put at risk when a documentarian starts probing into Ani's past and it's revealed that she was subjected to cruel bullying at school by some of the victims in the shooting. And, most horrifyingly, that she was gang raped.

We are shown these violations in their entirety; nothing is implied or suggested. Ani is raped by three of her classmates, including her boyfriend, Liam. The third and final rape is the hardest to watch - Ani has noticed that she is bleeding and, after trying to get some water, is thrown onto the bed by Dean, the school bully. He rapes her while Ani screams, shouting "no" and "stop" repeatedly until she eventually manages to push Dean off of her and escape.