Happy Birthday

Chloe is being bullied and struggling at school. She is taken to a family gathering with her father’s side of the family. It quickly becomes evident that the family sees her father as a failure, and the pressure on Chloe to succeed is made even bigger by this realisation. Chloe is the picture of childhood innocence, dressed in a schoolgirl uniform with her hair in perfect pigtails. Her appearance and demeanour make her emblematic of that antiquated adage that a child ought to be seen but not heard. She is silent up until the very end of the film, as tension rises between her mother, father, uncles and aunts. She is both the centre of attention and completely ignored, a unique experience many may remember from their early childhood.