Director: Alice Englert
Writer: Alice Englert
Stars: Jennifer Connelly, Alice Englert, Ana Scotney
Synopsis: A former child actress seeking enlightenment at a retreat led by a spiritual leader navigates the close but turbulent relationship with her daughter.
It may be impossible to quantify how terrible the new Jennifer Connelly movie Bad Behaviour actually is. And yet, Alice Englert’s film had plenty of room to be much worse than its final product. This film clearly has such a rancid take on mental health that even Dr. Jamie Zuckerman, the advocate who coined the concept of toxic positivity, may rethink her life’s work because of this misguided script.
I’m sure Bad Behaviour was meant to be award bait for Jennifer Connelly, perhaps even for an Oscar. Instead, the final product lacks logical thought, whether artistic or realistic. Its only concern seems to be propping up the performers with roles that do not gel, are inconsistent in tone, and work directly against each other in an unpleasant way, without any informative insight into themes that lack ambition and are shallow efforts at best.
Alice Englert and Jennifer Connelly in Bad Behaviour | Image via Ahi Films
The story follows Lucy (Connelly), a single mother and former child actress, who goes on a wellness retreat to find personal and perhaps spiritual growth. Life is hard for Lucy, who is going through a professional rut. She also has a somewhat strained and distant relationship with her teenage daughter, Dylan (played by writer and director Alice Englert), who is an actress and stunt performer in her own right.
When she arrives, it becomes clear that the goal of the exercise is not mental wellness. The exercises are being taped by the behind-the-scenes organizers (Ana Scotney, Alistair Sewell), who frequently try to coyly discourage participants from refusing two-party recording consent. The spiritual leader is Elon (Ben Whishaw), a figure who begins to resemble a snake oil salesman with his own rage issues.
Ben Whishaw in Bad Behaviour | Image via Ahi Films
Alice Englert’s script is filled with characters’ nonsensical behaviors, sugar coated with hateful, unpleasant actions. Whishaw’s Elon seems to be operating on Dr. Arthur Janov’s “Primal Therapy,” which has patients express their repressed emotions through primal screams or plain rage. However, the characters are flimsy, resembling those you might find in a situational or sophomoric comedy, and blatantly go against types that feel disingenuous.
You have the vain social media darling (Dasha Nekrasova), a narcissistic type, the angry muscle head (Robbie Magasiva), who is tender when it matters, and, of course, the Connelly character, a loving mother who attacks a fellow retreatmate after her slow simmer begins to boil over uncontrollably. Except, we never come to understand where any of these actions originate from and why they are manifesting. It’s as if the actions are just there to shock the audience instead of enlighten them.
Jennifer Connelly in Bad Behaviour | Image via Ahi Films
Bad Behaviour is a New Zealand production, so you see some brief but beautiful natural landscapes. Still, it doesn’t touch on any social or political issues known for its rich cinema history. Some eye-opening artistic choices, like an out-of-place animated sequence, are genuinely head-scratching. Also, the film is too indulgent when examining artists’ motivations but is rarely relatable to general audiences. You have to walk a fine line, and the film fails in this regard.
Overall, Bad Behaviour has very little to say that comes close to being meaningful. It could have been an insightful look at mental health, not just for the participants but for a character like Elon, who could be susceptible to burnout. It could even show how mental health professionals suffer from issues of their own. Instead, Alice Englert’s script has Lucy and Dylan’s stories play out where they eventually intersect, which leads to a stunning lack of purpose for the film and the audience.
Excuse me while I head off for a primal scream of my own for my precious time being wasted.
