Branching out from two previous short films (“The Boyfriend Game,” “Family Happiness”), Alice Englert makes her feature film writing/directing debut with “Bad Behaviour,” now playing at Sundance Film Festival. The film, at 107 minutes, is tonally inconsistent, starting at a self-help retreat and ending on the top of a mountain. It mixes genres, and feels, at times, to desperately want to channel filmmakers like Noah Baumbach and David O. Russell, though its ending is sublime and sweet, and Englert’s own. Its deepest treasure — regrettably saved for the last 20 minutes — is the acting by Englert, who plays Dylan, and Jennifer Connelly, who plays her mother, Lucy. And while Englert will doubtless (as I can already see she has been) be compared to her mother, Oscar-winner Jane Campion, despite “Bad Behavior’s” inconsistencies it tries, and you have to give it credit for that.
“Bad Behaviour” is another example of a film whose descriptions on both IMDb and its Sundance placeholder fail to do it justice. Lucy and Dylan’s relationship is defined as “co-dependent,” but I feel that misses the mark. It reeks more of unresolved trauma than co-dependency, of a good-intentioned but bad parent who made limitless mistakes, possibly through no fault of her own. Lucy suffers from unstable mental health condition(s). “Bad Behaviour” holds back from defining exactly what these are — but does it really matter? The fact is that it has affected Dylan, who has since moved on with her life. But as she spends her days working as a stuntwoman for the movies, getting hurt while teaching people how to pretend to hurt her as stunts, maybe she hasn’t moved on from the trauma either.
Confusing Tonal Shift Harm ‘Bad Behaviour’
Jennifer Connelly has been branching out as of late. I’ve always liked her, first as the addictive, self-loathing Marion Silver in “Requiem for a Dream” and then later as the benevolent and angelic Alicia Nash in “A Beautiful Mind.” She turned in a wonderful performance in 2022 in the Oscar-nominated “Top Gun: Maverick,” and is always a joy to watch. She great here as Lucy, a woman engulfed by unaddressed pain. It makes sense that a woman like Lucy would attend a self-help retreat, looking for solace through a self-help guru (Ben Whishaw in a bizarre, underdeveloped, role), rather than by fixing her past mistakes and reckoning with her daughter.
And this is — to me — the greatest fault of “Bad Behaviour.” It struggles to decide what kind of film it wants to be. As Lucy tries to blend in with the others at the retreat, failing to fit in (particularly with a model, Beverly, whom she grows to resent, played by Dasha Nekrasova), the film shifts around tonally, struggling to find footing. You can pick up on several odd themes, most notably the juxtaposition of the guru’s name, Elon, with the plethora of Tesla’s parked out front, and the satirical points it wishes to make. Elon’s likely a charlatan. Or maybe he’s a figment of Lucy’s imagination (a later scene could explain this). But by the time Lucy finally snaps (we can see it coming) and hits Beverly in the face with a chair, I felt the film was trying too hard to display its artistic trappings. It felt like “I Heart Huckabees” body checking “The Squid and the Whale” (David O. Russell and Noah Baumbach, respectfully); and along with the chaotic score, as Lucy is whisked away, laughing madly, I felt left out of a joke I didn’t understand.
Connelly and Englert Show Chemistry, Albeit in Short Snippets
I felt further justified in this feeling, later, as — after her arrest and bail — Lucy and Dylan get to spend some time together in a hotel, nestled deep in the wilderness. Watching an ensuing scene, as Lucy wakes up her daughter to ask her if she was a bad mother — and their subsequent heart-to-heart — was what “Bad Behaviour” should have been about. Or maybe it is what it is about. The dialogue between them flows, and like some of the best independent film I’ve ever seen, the plot drifts away, to become solely about mother and daughter, their feelings, anger, and regrets. Connelly is great, withdrawing into the confused mind that controls Lucy, but the real gem is Englert. She comes across with a sincerity and passion that is palpable. Englert guards her character with defenses she’s eager to let drop away, and as Lucy misses the clues, and the guards go back up, it makes their discussion — and the film’s ending — that much more rewarding.
Unfortunately, “Bad Behaviour” feels like a missed opportunity. I can see a film like this working, had the entire picture focused on the mother/daughter relationship — of disagreements and tough conversations like the one mentioned above — rather than the zany self-help retreat that takes up half the picture. The film includes too many characters, which it struggles to develop, and tries to bask itself in arthouse and chaos when the stripped down and bare was so much more interesting. The film’s surprises are its indie tone in the third act, the acting Englert brings to the table, and the Director’s penchant for writing emotional, real conversation that reveals itself in the film’s final moments.
Englert Has an Indie Knack Beneath it All
For Alice Englert’s first feature writing/directing attempt, “Bad Behaviour” doesn’t quite get there. But it has a heart to it. Hopefully in her next attempt she can capitalize on the heartfelt conversations and emotions that come so naturally to her, and less on the zany darkness that makes this movie somewhat difficult to take in.
“Bad Behaviour” is currently playing at the Sundance Film Festival. The festival goes from January 19 – January 29. Join us for continual coverage.
