Nothing to be sorry for, (except if you miss it), SORRY, BABY is an unapologetically eye worm viewing experience.
Writer director Eva Victor stars as Agnes, an academic dealing with the insidious seeping psychological displacement of a sexual assault.
Agnes is clever, smart, bright and funny, a tenured teacher at the small university from which she graduated. Professionally, her life is full and pleasant, but personally she is harnessed from happiness by a scold of unpleasantness perpetrated by the professor whose office she now possesses.
His actions have left her in a perpetual condition of raped innocence, a reverberating remnant of displaced trust. A shadow has been cast, but it is not a total eclipse, and Agnes’ endearing and enduring spirit persists with the positive while acknowledging the sometimes equally persistent negative.
Adversity and absurdity are targeted and tackled in this confronting but comforting film, Victor’s verbal and visual virtuosity valiant with irony and the truth that there is no mask, no mould, no disguise to the hurt and harm done.
Sharp observation of the medical and legal practises and the study of Nabokov’s incendiary novel, Lolita, are hardwired into the narrative.
As writer director and star, Eva Victor is a triumph. The script is witty, sharp, poignant and at times hilariously funny, the direction is adept and the performance impeccably nuanced.
There’s wonderful support from Naomie Ackie as Agnes’ best bud, Lydie, and Kelly McCormack as her nemesis, Natasha, and just to show that Agnes’ world view of men is not condemned to the circles of damnation, there are positive male roles presented by Lucas Hedges and John Carroll Lynch.
SORRY, BABY has something to say and says it with wit and wisdom. You’ll be sorry if you miss it.
