It is difficult to strike a balance between portraying a serious issue and finding the absurd comedy within it. Sorry, Baby manages to capture this near-impossible feat without diving deep into complexities, and yet the characters within its story feel natural – nothing is forced. There may be one or two encounters within the film that are definite staples of an indie drama, but aside from these, the story plays out in a satisfying and, above all, realistic way. Perhaps the reason why this film is so bitingly comical is because of its naturalistic characters and their behaviours.
Three years after being sexually assaulted by her advisor during Grad school, newly appointed college professor Agnes reflects on the time it’s taken for her to try and heal. She welcomes back her best friend Lydie, who helped her through the initial shock, recognising how far both have come in the last few years.
Told out of sequence, the story begins with Agnes and Lydie reuniting and referring to people and incidents in the past. We glean that something terrible happened to Agnes while the two of them were in Grad school together, and she hasn’t left the college town or moved from the house they shared during that time. It seems that Agnes is stuck in time while Lydie has a whole new life, including being happily married. But this is more of a prologue, and we’re then launched into the main story to watch events unfold. It’s as if we are watching Agnes’ memory play, with each year since the incident being named something small and odd. These feel like snippets in Agnes’s story rather than something that will define her for the rest of her life, which is both hopeful and mournful. She doesn’t get a satisfying closure to her trauma, but she also accepts she won’t, and this is what the story is about.
From Agnes’ description of her assault by her advisor, someone she trusted and thought respected her, there is a mind-numbing sense of realism. We never see the assault on screen (thankfully), but we know exactly what has happened from the scenes in its place. Her monologue in the bath as Lydie quietly comforts her is alarming and makes us feel all her emotions at once. The pressure and panic Agnes goes through after is expressed in the most unusual ways – like when she’s summoned for jury duty – and the most natural – when she has a panic attack by the side of the road. What’s amazing is that throughout the film, these scenes are peppered with comedy. Nothing is forced or staged – the comedy rather comes from looking at how absurd the situation is and, unfortunately, how awkward. Finding the comedy in a darker subject when the entire film is not a dark comedy just makes the film so much more special.
It’s not all bleakness and awkwardness. Writer/director and star of the film Eva Victor knows that there must be light in the darkness. Agnes and Lydie’s (played to absolute perfection by Naomi Ackie) scenes together reflect the truest of friendships, and even when they reflect on bad times, there is something still so wholesome about what they share. There are also some tender and sweet scenes with Lucas Hedges’ Gavin, Agnes’ neighbour/love interest, that give us hope that Agnes could possibly still have a relationship, if she chose.
Sorry, Baby is that unexpected delight you don’t see at the cinema. It’s awkward and bleak, but the effortless comedic tone throughout makes this a rare film indeed.
Sorry, Baby releases exclusively in cinemas on 22 August.
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