“I still think about her. I guess, still love her. She might have been even more alone than I was. I miss her.” — Syvlie Cooper (Sara Gilbert) reflects on her murderous BFF Ivy (Drew Barrymore)

1992’s Poison Ivy is narrated by alienated and confused Sylvie (Sara Gilbert), a teenager who describes herself as being  “the politically / environmentally-correct feminist poetry-reading type.”  Syvlie has issues.  Her father (Tom Skerritt) is a self-righteous television pundit while her mother (Cheryl Ladd) is stuck at home, confined to bed and slowly dying.  Ivy’s only friend is her dog, Fred.  Sylvie deals with her alienation by constantly lying, often claiming that her real father is actually a black man who had an affair with her mother.

When Sylvie sees a girl (Drew Barrymore) brazenly swinging on a rope with her skirt around her waist, she is immediately fascinated. After spending a while obsessing over the girl’s physical appearance, Sylvie tells us, “Maybe I’m a lesbian…no definitely not.  I really wish we could be friends.”  Her desire for friendship continues even after Sylvie witnesses the girl violently euthanize a dog that’s been hit by a car.

Later, at school, Sylvie finds herself sitting in detention for calling in a bomb threat to her father’s show.  When the girl joins her in detention, Sylvie strikes up a conversation with her.  It turns out that the girl knows who Sylvie’s father is and that she considers him to be “an asshole.”  However, that still doesn’t prevent the girl from accepting a ride home with Sylvie and her father.  When introducing the girl, Sylvie calls her “Ivy,” presumably after one of the girl’s tattoos.  What’s interesting — and probably often missed — is that the girl herself never introduces herself as Ivy.  It’s a name given to her by Sylvie.

Not wasting any time, Ivy is soon Sylvie’s best friend and is even living in Sylvie’s house.  At first, Ivy is exactly the best friend that Sylvie needs, encouraging her to come out of her shell, take chances, and even get a tattoo.  However, soon, Ivy is not just helping Sylvie do everything that she’s ever wanted to but she’s also acting on all of Sylvie’s subconscious desires as well.  Ivy first manages to bond with Sylvie’s mother and then proceeds to seduce her father.  Finally, even Fred finds himself preferring the company of Ivy to his original owner…

Is there anything more wonderful than female friendship?  I think not but then again, that’s really not relevant to Poison Ivy because this film has not interest in being a realistic look at the relationship between Sylvie and Ivy.  Instead, it’s a hyper-stylized take on the type of material that you would normally expect to find in a trashy novel and the movie is all the better for it.  Fortunately, the movie was directed by Katt Shea who brings a sensitivity to material that a male director would probably only view as an excuse for titillation.

I think the film is best interpreted as being Sylvie’s fantasy.  In fact, I would argue that the case could be made that the entire film takes place in Sylvie’s head.  It’s her fantasy of having the type of uninhibited friend who will encourage her to conquer all of her fears and who will accept her for all of her strange quirks.  However, that’s not just Sylvie’s fantasy.  That’s a universal fantasy that every teenage girl has had (and probably a few teenage boys as well).  Is there any wonder that the film ends with Sylvie admitting that she still misses Ivy?