Judged the best performance at this year’s Berlinale and selected as MIFF’s opening night film, Rose Byrne’s phenomenal star turn propels writer/director Mary Bronstein’s devastatingly honest, darkly comic vision of motherhood.

Linda is a therapist who can barely help herself, let alone anyone else. Her daughter is ill and seems unable, or unwilling, to get better; her husband is little more than a judgemental voice on the other end of the phone; her patients are more distractions than anything; and even her own therapist seems over her! So when Linda’s apartment ceiling collapses, it might just push her over the edge – if a belligerent hamster or surly motel receptionist don’t do so first.

Rose Byrne won the Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance for her nerve-eviscerating portrayal of Linda, while the onscreen talent in Mary Bronstein’s long-awaited second feature – which also includes fellow Australian Danielle Macdonald, funnyman Conan O’Brien and artist A$AP Rocky – is ably matched by the skill behind the camera. Christopher Messina’s cinematography, Lucian Johnston’s editing and Filipe Messeder’s sound design combine to disorient and unsettle, and Bronstein brings it all together, navigating the abrupt tonal shifts of Linda’s increasingly chaotic downward spiral with precision. Funny, claustrophobic, a little surreal and always anxiety-inducing, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a whirlwind that – much like modern motherhood itself – will leave you breathless.

Rating

CTC

Duration

113 MINS