The teenage girls of Vestalis Academy are meticulously trained in the art of being “clean girls,” practicing the virtues of perfect femininity. But what exactly are they being trained for? Vivien intends to find out.

If cleanliness is next to godliness then the girls in Danishka Esterhazy’s, Level 16 , are angels among demons. This dark, dystopian mystery follows a group of young women at their orphanage, Vestalis Academy, where they are taught, or rather drilled, on the virtues of femininity: cleanliness, obedience, sweetness, and loyalty. However, the ultimate and final lesson is the hardest one – purity has a price.

The girls of Vestalis Academy, run by Doctor Miro (Peter Outerbridge) and Miss Brixel (Sara Canning), are raised from birth confined within its walls. Under the watchful eyes of black-clad, Russian-speaking guardsmen and “Big Eyes” surveillance cameras, the girls are taught to be clean, without anger, and without curiosity in the hopes of one day being adopted by a wealthy family in the outside world. When a girl is obedient and sweet the world cannot help but to take care of her, and the girls adhere to the regimented schooling that heavily indoctrinates and conditions them into fresh-faced, model students in order to be moved up to the next level. Level 16 is the final level, and as badass HBIC Miss Brixel teases in the trailer, “Level 16 it is not like the other levels”.

We are introduced to Level 16 of the school with the arrival of Vivien (Katie Douglas) who was the top girl on Level 15. Upon moving in, she realizes an old frenemy, Sophia (Celina Martin), who had previously gotten her an unclean mark on her record, is also there, which creates tension as she works to remain a top girl and ensure her adoption. One day, Sophia urges Vivienne to stop ‘taking the blue pill’, insisting that the school is not at all as it seems. When Vivienne wakes up to their reality, the two old friends begin to investigate the exact purpose of the school. After they lift the veil and uncover the horrifying truth behind why they exist, the girls begin to hatch a plan to escape their dangerous confines.

Writer-director Esterhazy is touting this as sci-fi, but this movie read more like a darkly comedic thriller. A sharply truthful and biting film with many intersecting levels of meaning. Midway through the movie I realized I was hooked; this world so closely parallels modern-day that I was wholly invested in learning about this captive place and why it exists in this not-so-alternate reality. It seemed like a parallel universe at first, but Dr. Miro seems to have named the girls after famous actresses from Hollywood’s golden age – Vivienne Leigh, Sophia Loren, Rita Hayworth, etc. – he appears to be a cinephile as he even mentions Gone with the Wind. The movie is a clever mix of nostalgia and present/post-dystopian themes, packaged in a palatable young-adult thriller.

Level 16, while echoing recent dramas such as The Handmaid’s Tale and even giving off The Hunger Games and Transfer (2010) vibes, was written by Danishka over 10 years ago yet still felt like an altogether fresh and original satirical take on society’s propensity to govern women’s bodies, movements, and education. It is a self-conscious and suspenseful mystery where Danishka makes use of familiar Stepford Wives and Scarlet Letter tropes and creates a herd mentality among the characters to cultivate this slightly claustrophobia-inducing environment of a farm masquerading as a school.

On another note, I loved how the characters were styled; the villains felt sort of comic book-y and some of the shots were reminiscent of comic book frames. The complexity of the world seemed adapted from a popular YA series, yet it is not. it is out of the filmmaker’s mind.

Danishka Esterhazy is a feminist filmmaker who created an elaborate world that goes to some pretty dark and gruesome places. Like so many other dystopian flicks of recent years, Level 16 explores the rich and elite’s exploitation of power through wealth disparity which resonates with the worldwide political climate of today. The movie makes itself even more relevant by tying the exploitation to society’s sick obsession with youth, longevity, and un-aging beauty.

At its core, this movie is a rebellious yell to overcome the fears and anxieties that labels like “unclean” cause and to, instead, kick anyone’s butt who tries to bind liberties. As today’s progressive gal is typically a woman of the “nasty” variety, this movie essentially gives the middle finger to that old misogynistic notion that women are only such fodder and should be happy with crumbs so long as they are at least consistent crumbs. But ‘F*** YOU!’ to the crumbs,’F*** YOU!’ to being a clean girl. Go see Danishka Esterhazy’s very dark mystery-thriller, Level 16.