THE PREMISE:

"A novelist's longstanding marriage is suddenly upended when she overhears her husband giving his honest reaction to her latest book." 

OUR MOVIE REVIEW:

A24’s You Hurt My Feelings is an entirely relatable piece of filmmaking for anyone with a person in their lives you invest in - hoping to support their hopes and aspirations. You Hurt My Feelings is one of the first Julia Louis-Dreyfus roles I’ve gotten around to seeing (surprising, I know) and she was truly fantastic in her subtle disappointment and hurt as she realizes her one fail safe in life has been lying to her. 

The film isn’t about the hardships of cheating or a relationship falling into ruins, but instead a singular incident that makes you second guess everything that has been said to encourage you up to that precise moment. While Louis-Dreyfus’ Beth is a published writer with hopes to share her second novel, a fiction, with the world - everyone seems to be unsure of her upcoming work, aside from her husband. That is until she learns by mistake that he actually has been lying to her all along about his feelings toward her work. 

The story is truly heartfelt, funny when it wants to be but most of all heart wrenching to watch this relationship sour from one poor decision to spare one's feelings instead of being entirely honest. The somber, silent chemistry between Louis-Dreyfus’ Beth and Tobias Menzies’ Don is what makes the experience all the more relatable. Being one of the best films out of the Sundance Film Festival 2023, A24 has chosen wisely with this wonderful piece of a genuine human experience, where we all choose to tell little lies in order to appease someone else.