The gorgeous heartache of songs by the group Belle and Sebastian gives “God Help the Girl” its dreamy appeal, but thanks to a poky story line it essentially amounts to a series of music videos.
Emily Browning, the “Sucker Punch” star, is beyond enchanting as a depressed anorexic who busts out of a mental hospital in Glasgow and forms a band with a rich girl (Hannah Murray) and her nerdy music teacher (Olly Alexander).
The trio romp around town singing B&S songs and new compositions by the band’s founder and the film’s writer-director Stuart Murdoch, who recaptures some of the spirit of those touchingly earnest French musicals of the 1960s.
The central romantic dilemma, though, is far too weak to sustain a movie — the boy seems more like a little brother than a plausible boyfriend for Browning’s otherworldly, intoxicating character.
So despite its considerable charms, “God Help the Girl” eventually goes a bit stale. I would have loved it as a college sophomore, though.