Welcome to the Dollhouse

Welcome to the Dollhouse
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTodd Solondz
Written byTodd Solondz
Produced byTodd Solondz
Starring
CinematographyRandy Drummond
Edited byAlan Oxman
Music byJill Wisoff
Production
company
Suburban Pictures
Distributed bySony Pictures Classics
Release dates
  • September 10, 1995 (1995-09-10) (TIFF)
  • May 24, 1996 (1996-05-24) (United States)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$800,000
Box office$5 million

Welcome to the Dollhouse is a 1995 American coming-of-age black comedy film written and directed by Todd Solondz. An independent film, it won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival and launched the careers of Solondz and Heather Matarazzo. The story follows the unpopular middle schooler Dawn as she goes to extreme lengths trying to earn the respect of her vicious fellow students and her uninterested family. Dawn reappears in two of Solondz's two other films Palindromes and Wiener-Dog, but those films have alternate timelines and Dawn encounters two different fates in those two films. Dawn's brother and father also appear in the former in addition to Life During Wartime. The film's working title was Faggots and Retards.