There’s a black hole in the leaky bedroom ceiling of Linda (Rose Byrne)’s home. Linda, a mom and therapist whose daughter (Delaney Quinn) is suffering from a mysterious illness, tries to keep her head above water. She tries to escape her current reality, where she fills her daughter’s feeding tube in a motel room, waiting for the hole in the ceiling to get fixed. But the feeling of existential dread consumes Linda. Everyday grievances crash against her like violent waves. “It isn’t supposed to be like this,” Linda insists. Motherhood is supposed to be the most wonderful experience, right? Mary Bronstein’s visceral film, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” dismantles the notion of how things are “supposed” to be and spotlights the nuances of maternal discomfort. The film is a genuinely stressful watch, without a moment’s pause, as Bronstein gets up close and personal to a woman on the verge of a psychological breakdown. The camera focuses on Linda’s face throughout, embracing the deepest and darkest corners of her mind. In return, we get a front row seat to an invigorating tour de force performance by Rose Byrne.
Byrne’s performance has been lauded since “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Park City became the launchpad for one rave after another. Byrne went on to win the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. Six months later, the film kicked off a major fall festival run, where it got new life heading into A24’s theatrical release (the film has been playing in select theaters since October 10). This is a film that ought to be seen on the biggest screen possible, as it transports us to an uncompromising, genre-bending fever dream. With both the story and its execution resting on Byrne, her performance is what brings the film’s concept to life on an emotional level. Bronstein throws caution to the wind by dropping us in the middle of Linda’s life, and Byrne is totally immersed from the first frame, ready to run towards the chaos.
The role of Linda needed an actor who could immediately draw us into her whirlwind and masterfully hold tension. An actor who could explore varying degrees of emotional curveballs, from the inconvenience of dropping pizza to a tense therapy session to an alarming meeting with a patient. Everyone in Linda’s world — whether it’s her miserable therapist (an impressive Conan O’Brien), her postpartum patient (a brilliant Danielle Macdonald), her berating husband (a mostly offscreen Christian Slater, giving an effective voice performance), or her motel superintendent (a charismatic A$AP Rocky) — is portrayed partly as an extension of how Linda perceives herself. Every conceptual choice about this character evokes emotions of self-destruction that many of us, mothers or not, can identify with.
Byrne delves into the depths of mental exhaustion and uncomfortable sensations. And that embrace of discomfort is where “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” finds spellbinding life. Mirroring the unflinching honesty in Bronstein’s writing and direction, Byrne’s performance takes a magnifying glass to places of shame, anger, and guilt, making space for internal dialogues about motherhood that are often reluctantly shared. Mothers are often considered either the greatest or the worst, and Byrne’s Linda operates outside of such social constructs.
Byrne’s performance also sparks conversations beyond the subject of motherhood. There’s the added layer of Linda being a therapist and a caregiver, having to put on several hats to get through the day. She experiences severe burnout and is in no position to take on new patients; we see the consequences of this in the unfolding story of her patient, Caroline (Macdonald). Linda yearns for the space to be her own person and not to be defined solely as a mother, which contributes to her not truly seeing her child (a psychological feeling that Bronstein makes literal). Above all, Linda is desperately trying to feel seen, heard, and understood. In a scene between Linda and her therapist (O’Brien), she asks him how she’s supposed to fix everything and make her daughter better. He suggests that she should get a good night’s sleep and cut out all substances. “Are you listening to me?! Can you hear me?!” she exclaims. It’s a moment of striking familiarity, and it feels as though Byrne is reaching through the screen, posing these questions to the audience.
“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” is the sort of project that redefines an actor’s career and reinvigorates all the reasons why we adore them. Byrne is no stranger to playing complicated characters and exploring multiple genres. From her first leading role in “The Goddess of 1967,” for which she won the Best Actress Volpi Cup at the 2000 Venice Film Festival, to her roles in the Australian comedy “The Rage in Placid Lake” and psychological mystery “Wicker Park,” she made an unforgettable early impression. Byrne has worked with some of our greatest contemporary directors since then, including Sofia Coppola (“Marie Antoinette”) and Danny Boyle (“Sunshine”), delivered hilarious work in some of the 21st century’s best comedies (“Bridesmaids” and “Spy”), and chilled us to the bone with nightmarish horror (“Insidious” and “28 Weeks Later”). She has channeled her incredible range through playing feminist icon Gloria Steinem in the 1970s-set “Mrs. America,” and aerobics-obsessed housewife Sheila Rubin in the 1980s-set “Physical.” And she stood toe-to-toe with Glenn Close for five seasons of the Emmy-winning legal drama, “Damages.”
Gliding from tragedy to comedy, Byrne can do it all, and “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” is a culmination of decades-spanning, genre-defying work. She shows many of her defining strengths, from being a powerhouse screen presence to conveying impeccable sarcasm and comedic timing. She also gets an opportunity to explore exciting new depths and create something so uniquely lived-in that her character takes up space in our minds long after the film ends. One of the most impressive qualities of Byrne’s performance is the level of nuance she finds in a repeatedly stressful pressure cooker. Even though Linda can’t escape from her life, Byrne takes us to places that are emotionally so far away from the motel, from the therapy office, from the expanding hole in the ceiling. She masterfully avoids the trappings of a one-note portrait. And she encourages questions of who Linda was before this moment in time. How did she get here? Where is she headed? It’s not only the close-ups that prompt us to lean in, but also Byrne’s infinite curiosity with which she explores Linda’s perspective, inviting us to do the same.
In addition to Linda experiencing an existential crisis in the film, she’s having a very bad day. Serious as her situation is, Bronstein incorporates a grounded sense of humor into this story, echoing the energy of the phrase, “If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.” Byrne finds the funny bones in how ridiculous some of Linda’s minor inconveniences are, while also not letting us forget how Herculean each one feels to her. These inconveniences include Linda flipping off a parking attendant while searching for a parking spot, abruptly hanging up on her husband out of sheer frustration, or being denied alcohol at the motel counter because she left her ID in her room. Then there’s an absurdly short-lived pet hamster, in a squirmy sequence born from the stuff of nightmares. These small inconveniences have a gradual, cumulative impact and illustrate how well Byrne can balance different inflections.
When reflecting on favorite performances in film history, it’s so often the case that one particular scene stands out. A single moment that so clearly encompasses why that performance strikes such a powerful chord. The singular beauty of Rose Byrne’s performance in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” lies in just how many of these special moments we get after another, each one thoughtfully layered to create an all-consuming experience. These moments arrive not only in standout scenes but also in various forms of storytelling that Byrne incorporates into her portrayal, including tremendous physicality. The tension held in her mind becomes reflected through her body language; the sense of exhaustion and defeat is palpable on screen. For every layer the film peels back about Linda’s character, Byrne gives us something new to chew on, creating a timeless performance for the ages.
Have you seen “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” yet? If so, what do you think of the film? Do you believe Rose Byrne will be nominated for Best Actress? Please let us know in the comments section below and on Next Best Picture’s X account and check out the team’s latest Oscar predictions here.
