Film Review #13: Forbidden Fruits
"And that's not even the best part. I got us tickets to see Ed Sheeran!"
You know, a lot of people think Taylor Swift discovered him...
Warning: there are spoilers ahead.
Heavy on the Biblical motif, Meredith Alloway's 2026 film Forbidden Fruits sees female leads Apple, Cherry, and Fig working (or perhaps more accurately, playing) at Free Eden, a clothing store in a Texas mall.
When the trio meet a food court worker named Pumpkin (Lola Tung), they invite her to stay and become part of their after-hour coven -- conducting rituals in the store's basement, prohibiting relationships with men, and confessing their sins to the spirit of Marilyn Monroe.
Pumpkin gifts the coven leader, Apple (Lili Reinhart), a doll containing a hidden camera to spy on the coven's activities, whilst a blissfully unaware Apple actually nicknames the doll "Marilyn".
Her motive still unclear, Pumpkin continues to observe and collect information about Apple's micromanagement of her fellow coven members.
Cherry (Victoria Pedretti) lies to Apple about being in therapy sessions, while she is actually having secret sexual flings throughout the mall.
Fig (Alexandra Shipp) is in love with a man named Norman, yet begs Pumpkin not to reveal her secret, citing the downfall of their fellow coven member, Pickle.
After Pickle fell in love with a man named Ashton, Apple led the coven in placing a hex on her. (Ashton soon went into a coma and Pickle was institutionalized.)
With paranoia ensuing amongst the group, Apple attempts to cast another hex -- this time, a deranged Pickle commits suicide in the middle of the mall.
Distraught over Pickle's death and fueled by mounting resentment towards Apple, Fig removes herself from the coven, revealing that her real name is Emily.
An enraged, vengeful Cherry attempts to kill Norman, who promptly ends his relationship with Fig/Emily (potentially citing something about her crazy friends, it's really hard to say).
When the mall is closed due to an impending tornado, the four women are now trapped together in a proverbial war zone.
Apple attacks Cherry, who becomes caught in a malfunctioning escalator and essentially turns into ground beef (a fate even Joe Goldberg couldn't have scripted for Love Quinn).
The tornado then shatters a glass skylight in the mall, and Fig (or Emily, or whatever we're calling her) is bisected by falling debris.
With only two women remaining, Pumpkin now reveals in a stunning twist that she is Apple's half-sister, and has tracked down the coven leader to avenge her father's death.
(My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed [our] father. Prepare to die.)
Apple and Pumpkin hold strongly differing opinions about their father's double life, and their conflict is unhealthily resolved by Apple strangling Pumpkin to death and leaving her in the mall fountain -- her latest in a long line of victims.
Thankfully, a post credit scene reveals that Apple's boss, Sharon, has been investigating her for quite some time, and now possesses incriminating evidence recorded by the aforementioned camera hidden in "Marilyn".
My rating? 6 out of 10.
To be fully transparent, Victoria Pedretti was my primary motivation for seeing this film.
Love Quinn is perhaps my favorite character in You, and I was equally captivated by her performances in The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor.
Unfortunately, Forbidden Fruits played more like a "Wish Version" Mean Girls.
Admittedly, the target audience here may have been those looking to prove their college thesis by analyzing a commentary on the interplay between women and power dynamics within gender roles.
If you're looking for something to simply entertain, there are plenty of comedic elements, as men are only permitted to communicate with the ladies of this coven by using emojis. Laughing face. Heart. Smiley.
Forbidden Fruits feels like the type of film that you can rewatch many times in hopes of understanding its deeper messages, or label as self-important and accept the moments that feel somewhat nonsensical.
Is it trying to become a "cult classic"? I sat with this movie for nearly a week and then flipped a coin to decide whether or not it was enjoyable. I'm still not sure.
What were your thoughts on Forbidden Fruits? Feel free to leave a note in the comments below, let's discuss :)
Here are some other films I've seen lately:
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