If there’s one thing you should know about the Fruits, it’s that they worship Marilyn Monroe like she was God herself.
This is one of the running gags in Meredith Alloway’s new film, “Forbidden Fruits,” written by Alloway and Lily Houghton and based on Houghton’s 2019 play. The Fruits – a witchy sisterhood of mall workers (think “The Craft” meets “Mean Girls”) – put Monroe on a pedestal above all else. As with most cultural depictions of Monroe, she’s a confluence of contradictions. Powerful and worthy of adoration, yet a sacrificial lamb nonetheless. “No man could control her. Not even the president,” says Apple (Lili Reinhart), the leader of the Fruits, reverently. “And we worship that sacrifice.”
The Fruits are bastions of femininity themselves. They work at Free Eden (a stand-in for the elevated boho-chic boutique Free People), they dress to impress, and whispers follow them wherever they go. In an opening shot, the camera follows them through the food court, Apple at the center and her two minions Fig (Alexandra Shipp) and Cherry (Victoria Pedretti) at her side. They’re mall royalty – they always eat for free, and when they choose where they want to sit, the people already occupying that space clear out.
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