Tobias Menzies and Julia Louis-Dreyfus star in Nicole Holofcener’s film.
The new film from Nicole Holofcener is called “You Hurt My Feelings,” but so what? That could be the title of any Holofcener movie. Less than five minutes into her first feature, “Walking and Talking” (1996), a therapist said to her patient, who was in conflict with his wife, “Why do you think she’s always hurting your feelings?” Since then, audiences have been treated to “Lovely & Amazing” (2001), “Friends with Money” (2006), “Please Give” (2010), and “Enough Said” (2013)—all of them written and directed by Holofcener, and none of them unmarked by emotional dents and dings.
At the heart of “You Hurt My Feelings” are Beth ( Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her husband, Don (Tobias Menzies). She is a writer, he is a shrink, and they live in New York—how crazy is that? I mean, where do filmmakers come up with these ideas? Beth and Don have a son, Eliot (Owen Teague), in his early twenties, who is a sniper in the Marine Corps, with eleven kills under his belt. Correction: he is toiling in a weed store and writing a play. Also in the picture are Beth’s sister, Sarah (Michaela Watkins), who supplies interior décor to the unappeasable rich, and her husband, Mark (Arian Moayed), an actor. And here’s the kicker: these people aren’t very good at what they do, but few of them are candid enough to admit it.
This story is from the May 29, 2023 edition of The New Yorker.
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This story is from the May 29, 2023 edition of The New Yorker.
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