Bad Behaviour
The testing of mother - girl relationships has been a consistent root throughout the 2023 Sundance Film Festival . FromBirth / Rebirth , which scrutinized the extremes one would take for their minor toGirl , which analyse overprotective parentage , this year ’s festival offered divers storytelling with respect to maternity . Alice Englert ’s directorial first appearance , Bad Behaviouris another feature to add to that inclination . The dark funniness encounter Jennifer Connelly as a co - dependent mother with an unfitness to manager her anger . Bad Behaviourhad everything it needed to succeed , but the ridiculous handwriting and fluctuate theme make it a dreadful experience in every mother wit .
Lucy ( Connelly ) , a former youngster actress , seeks enlightenment from her spiritual leader , Elon Bello ( Ben Whishaw ) . But before she joins him at a still retirement in a beautiful mountain resort , Lucy inform her daughter Dylan ( Alice Englert ) , a stunt person training for a grave fight scene . As she venture off to the retirement , an ugly side to Lucy disclose itself in the most unfortunate way . To make topic worse , Lucy ’s unsound behavior reaches an surprisingly novel low gear when she ’s paired with a young influencer , Beverly ( Dasha Nekrasova ) , with whom she must take part in a female parent / daughter role - playing exercise .
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Englert ’s feature of speech entry is shockingly hollow and tongue-tied in the ideas it attempt to examine . The handwriting particularly struggle to maintain stress on why the character are the way they are without opt for extreme conduct and military action . For Connelly ’s Lucy , it ’s unmanageable to mold the causes for her off-the-wall outburst until the movie ’s final stage . But even then , the script spends such little time providing adequate account that all the work establish in its first two acts becomes irrelevant and flimsy . Connelly does all she can to convince spectator that this sour funniness is worth the watch . However , even her compelling performance can not put back any liveliness into this lustreless film .
As the picture show progresses , it begin to experience like there ’s no dependable aim other than to rile up its viewer . It ’s quite astounding , really , butBad Behaviouris supposed to be a dark comedy that dissects the origin of Lucy ’s toxic kinship with her daughter . However , there are very few jape just as its commentary on mother / girl relationship finish to exist before it barely gets going . As a result of its drifting screenplay , the film come off rile more than anything . And with the runtime time in at a longsighted 109 minute due to charter its meter to say anything remotely interesting , looker may have trouble wanting to continue for its entirety .
There ’s a moment inBad Behaviourin which it feels as if a good film may emerge . Times when Connelly ’s Lucy must self - reflect and share her learnings give insight to her home struggle . regrettably , these moments never last long enough to give any modicum of coherence . rather , the preposterous storytelling and wonky negotiation overtake its gamey potential , result in its nonsensical showcase of ire direction , self-contemplation , and healing . One may be able to see past all these limitations if the bulk of the picture had been like the final 25 minutes . However , it comes a little too recent and only solidifies that Englert ’s debut is a missed opportunity .
Jennifer Connelly in Bad Behaviour
riddle with over - the - top sequences and annoying dialogue , Bad Behaviouris such a dashing hopes that it almost feel like a charade . Of what , one might ask ? Of a sorry pic . Perhaps , that ’s the most unmanageable affair to conceptualize — that underneath this farfetched depiction is something deserving watching . Yet , there are knowing choices made to do everything but put forth a great picture show . And despite a attached and great performance from Jennifer Connelly , the root word of Centennial State - dependency and toxicity within female parent / girl relationships were simply not executed well . It conk out without allege , but this is one of the biggest disappointments in late memory .
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Bad Behaviourpremiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival on January 21 . The flick is 109 moment long and not yet shit .
author - managing director Alice Englert submit Bad Behaviour , a comedy - drama film starring Jennifer Connelly as a former child actress . seek enlightenment , Lucy ( Connelly ) heads to a retreat led by her guru , Elon ( Ben Whishaw ) to unplug from the cosmos and reconnect with herself . Before she get down , however , she reaches out to her daughter , who discover that she ’s education for an incredibly dangerous prospect in a moving-picture show she ’s in . Now wholly distracted by worry , Lucy ’s weekend retreat will change by reversal into a comedic nightmare .
