The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Being quiet at secondary school is not easy. Without any friends, it is all too easy to become “the odd one out”, someone whose presence goes unnoticed. Charlie knows this feeling all too well. After a difficult summer, he begins his first year of secondary school and tries to find his feet in this new reality. Everything changes when he plucks up the courage to meet people who, for the first time, make him feel that he belongs.

Sam and Patrick are a duo who are not afraid to live life on their own terms. They dance as if no one is watching, speak their minds, and seem not to care what other people think.

Intimidated by their energy, Charlie gradually begins to discover a world he has never known before, full of first parties and first loves. His new friends help him forget, for a while, what he has been trying to leave behind. But growing up has a way of forcing us, sooner or later, to confront our own past. Charlie will have to find the strength to face what has remained unspoken for years.

This is a tender, moving portrait of coming of age, showing how fine the line can be between youthful carefreeness and the experiences that shape us for life. Sometimes the most important journey is not through the world, but deep within ourselves.

Did you know that…

…the film is based on a novel written by its director, Stephen Chbosky? He loosely based Charlie, the protagonist, on his own experiences of growing up in Pittsburgh.