This review is part of our coverage of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
court: At first glance, Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her husband Don (Tobias Menzies) portray a healthy, cooperative middle-aged marriage. She’s an author with a bestselling (but critically acclaimed) book – a memoir about her “verbally abusive” father, which raises the serious question of whether the book would have worked if her childhood had been worse. Selling better — and he’s the therapist’s interest in his prickly patient dwindles quickly.
Sure, Beth’s sister (Michael Watkins) resents her capricious upholstery clients, and their son (Owen Teague), an unambitious manager of a local pharmacy, but They seem to be pretty stable through all these first world New York problems.
That is, until one day Beth overhears Don telling his brother-in-law (Ariane Moyed) that he doesn’t like the new book she’s writing. It pained her; it was just a book, but it was very important to her that the people she was with recognized her work. But knowing this secret information begins to unravel her sense of self, not to mention her marriage, as she has to figure out how to move forward with this terrifying knowledge.
I had to tell it: Nicole Holofcener’s films, with few exceptions, are charming, deceptively insightful parables about the little white lies we tell ourselves (and each other) just to get through the day.She is a provider of hilarious and heart-wrenching honesty, constructing climactic drama from the everyday fabric of modern life, and you hurt my feelings no difference. In fact, it’s quite possibly one of her best work in a long time.
Today’s topic is disappointment – the expectations we set for ourselves, and more importantly, others for us, and when they hit the brick wall of reality. For Beth, it’s the expectation of her being a successful writer while adjunct writing professor whose favorite students believe their work will appeal to her. (Surprisingly, they have barely heard of her most famous book.)
Louis-Dreyfus, reunited with Holofcener for the first time since enough said Ten years ago, Beth was predictably unbelievable, intelligent, and a little too self-conscious for her own good: Beth was the perfect conduit for Elaine-caliber bewilderment as she encountered new and devastating She frowned when she was doing something. She’s passionate and acerbic, often in the same sentence, and it’s always a pleasure to watch her work. Thankfully, Holofcener recognizes that her talents shouldn’t be limited to the small screen.
You hurt my feelings (A24)