Lady, 2025.
Directed by Samuel Abrahams.
Starring Sian Clifford, Laurie Kynaston, and Juliet Cowan.
SYNOPIS:
A narcissistic aristocratic dupes an ambitious director into filming her every move.
A hilarious and unexpectedly moving account of class and cringe, Lady serves up a selection of straight-to-camera absurdities and ruminations on wealth and privilege. Lady has drawn comparisons with Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn (2023) in its darkly humorous take on the British class system, but to my mind, Lady does a more subtle exploration of the family ties that bind people to property, riches, and opportunities
In saying that, Lady does have plenty of laughs in poking fun at the so-called elites. Sian Clifford does a fantastic job in portraying Lady Isabella—or Izzy to those on familiar terms—a person who is arrogant, self-centred, and constantly seeking attention. Her situation of being alone on a vast estate of buildings and grounds with only ‘staff’ for company, headed by the ever-patient Becky (Juliet Cowan), leads her to contact Sam (Laurie Kynaston), a young director with a BAFTA-nominated (not winning, as much as Isabella chose to believe) short to his credit and his eyes on getting ahead in his film career.
Much of the drama of Lady comes from the fact that Lady Isabella has secured Sam and his camera with a promise of a Netflix deal. When it dawns on him that this isn’t forthcoming, the movie teeters between whether or not Sam will finish the film or just simply escape. In fact, he does try to get away in one slapstick scene, with Isabella driving him in ultra-slow style down the vast driveway away from the stately mansion.
This scene in particular reveals the truth that Isabella is suffering from agoraphobia and has not left the grounds (filmed at Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk) for years, which is also tied into a family tragedy. Sam begins to find sympathy for Izzy, and the film skillfully shows how their relationship changes. Lots of alcohol and psychoactive substances also play a part in this, and up the intensity of the strangeness at work in their personal lives.
Clifford is on-camera all the way through, and carries the piece right from the off, and the intensity never lets up. Making both Sam and us, the wider audience, feel for her and laugh with her is no mean feat. The picture also shows a bit of a social angle with Izzy’s tone-deaf reading of the local needs of the nearest town, which is attempted to be brought together in a talent show, where she naturally wants to take centre stage.
Lady is a visually striking picture with plenty of trippy sequences and Isabella’s signature fashion sense. The film also has the mockumentary style of on-the-nose humour and awkward social interactions like some of the best bits of the glory days of The Office, or classics like This Is Spinal Tap and Best in Show. Highly recommended for anyone in need of a laugh at the ridiculous nature of class and how everyone can find it difficult to get out of.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert W Monk
