Mary Jane’s Not a Virgin Anymore 1996

The film opens by pulling back the curtain on Hollywood’s glossy myth of a perfect, glamorous first time, only to drop us into a real moment experienced by Jane as she loses her virginity to Steve. The scene is far from magical, uncomfortable and candid, and in the middle of it Jane asks Steve to stop. She then heads to a late-night party at the local cinema where she works, hoping to find some clarity after the night’s mix of feelings. At the party she talks with coworkers about love, sex, and luck: Ericka, a bisexual punk musician; Matt, who drinks away his worries; Ryan, who amuses himself with smiley-face memorabilia; and their understanding gay boss Dave. The group hints at a hidden culture among the staff—bets and bets on the outcomes of people’s relationships and sexual lives. By night’s end, the mood shifts as Jane swears off both relationships and sex, choosing solitude and self-discovery instead.

The next day, Jane is put in charge of training a new employee, Tom. [Steve] reappears, asking for another chance, but Jane declines. Amid work, Jane embarks on a video project, interviewing friends about life in the fictional country of Zamboni where women enjoy equal rights. When she presents the unedited project to her class, the reaction is cooler than she hoped, and she faces disapproval from her more conventional peers. The conversations with friends deepen as they begin to open up about their own first times, revealing a mix of trauma, curiosity, and moments of bravery.

Grace shares a painful history: she was raped at fifteen but later had a consensual experience, testing the boundaries of ownership and agency. Ericka recounts a basement encounter, with a cryptic whisper of “olive juice” afterward, and she bluntly suggests that Jane try masturbating to understand her own desires. Tom invites Jane to a party, and later that night she experiments privately with masturbation, marking a new form of personal insight. The morning after, it’s revealed that Matt has been fired for stealing from work, while Dave plans to leave his current job to run another theater. Matt decides to move to Alabama, where he may find a new life, and Tom and Matt share one final night of drinks before the next chapter begins.

The following day brings a sharp turn: Tom is hospitalized after a drunken drive in the wrong direction on a one-way street, and he dies from his injuries. Tom’s funeral ushers in a period of upheaval at the cinema, as a new, abrasive manager takes charge and both Ryan and Jane opt to quit. After a day spent together, Jane confesses romantic feelings for Ryan, who, however, admits he does not feel the same way and prefers to remain friends.

A year passes, and Jane graduates from high school and moves to Boston, where she contributes to her friend’s zine, Olive Juice. Grace reveals a blood test showing that Tom is the biological father of her child, a fact she has chosen to keep. Dave runs a new theater with his partner, Kurt, continuing his artistic life. When Jane meets at a restaurant with Ryan, she runs into Steve again, who does not recognize her, and he is seen meeting with Allison, a reader of Olive Juice. Jane explains to Allison that her first time with Steve inspired a piece in the zine about an “awful thing that happened in the cemetery.” After this confrontation, Allison is invited to join Jane and Ryan for a bowling outing, marking a quiet, hopeful pivot toward reconciliation, memory, and new beginnings.