In her directorial debut, Eva Victor has made something unique: a story of surviving sexual assault that’s nothing like every other film on that subject that I’ve ever seen, with warmth, humor, and surprising emotion. It’s a juggling of tones that was risky and could’ve gone off the rails, but Victor pulled it off.
Sorry, Baby killed at Sundance back in January, where Victor won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award and the film set off a bidding war that was won by A24. Victor first came on my radar about five years ago as someone who did funny social media videos; she worked for a time for the comedy website Reductress. She popped up as a cast member on the later seasons of Billions, holding her own in a crowded cast of performers.
With Sorry, Baby, she writes, directs, and stars as Agnes, a young grad student-turned-English professor who’s assaulted by her mentor (Louis Cancelmi, also a Billions alum.). Barry Jenkins, whose Moonlight helped put A24 on the map, is on board as a producer.
The story’s told in several chapters, not entirely in chronological order. It shows Agnes visited by her best friend (Naomi Ackie, from Mickey 17), where we’re given hints of something bad that happened in the past. Other chapters flash back to her days as a grad student before the assault.
Agnes has to deal with her career being made by a thesis that she wrote with the help of her attacker, and even having to take over his old office. There’s also a darkly comic scene where she has to decide whether to share her story to get out of jury duty.
The film’s set in the particular world of academia in small-town New England, and appears to know that world very well, especially the parts involving jockeying for position and backbiting. John Carroll Lynch has a fantastic single scene as a helpful sandwich stand owner, and in this Massachusetts-shot movie, he’s the only character who attempts a New England accent. This is likely because just about every character besides him is an academic.
It’s one of several fine small performances from familiar faces. Lucas Hedges, who had a long run of roles in movies like Lady Bird, Manchester by the Sea and Ben is Back when he was in his early-20s and then disappeared for a while, shows up here as a potential love interest, and feels like a completely different performer now that he’s 28.
And Kelly McCormack plays an intense academic rival of Agnes. I was trying to place where I recognized the actress from, and remembered—she’s Betty Anne, one of the foul-mouthed hockey players on the great Canadian comedy series Letterkenny.
The final scene could’ve been didactic or corny, but I thought it delivered beautifully, and the film ends exactly at the right time.