You Hurt My Feelings movie storyline. Writer-professor Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and therapist Don (Tobias Menzies) are as copacetic as could be, still passionate, still sharing each other’s meals (much to the disgust of their son) and still supporting each other professionally.
Beth is coming off the back of a well-reviewed yet under-read memoir detailing the emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of her father (she darkly wishes at times he had been worse so it could have sold more copies) and is trying to get her first novel published. Even after her agent finally confesses that she’s unsure of its commercial viability, Don continues to tell her how talented she is and, having read every draft, how fantastic her book will be.
But one day, the unimaginable happens when Beth overhears Don tell her sister’s partner that he doesn’t rate the book at all and is fatigued by reading draft after draft. Beth is crushed (the scene is smartly played for heartbreak over humour) and has to find a way to live with this knowledge, causing an inevitable unravelling.
It’s an ingenious way to light a fuse, a brief candid moment causing the kind of deep cuts that may never fully heal. Holofcener’s characters have that liberal “Well the world is falling apart so should we really be this distracted by the small stuff?” awareness but it’s trumped by the more realistic emotional gut response of “My feelings are hurt and that sucks.”
Beth and Don are grappling with the toll of age, with Don considering cosmetic surgery and Beth worrying that she might have wasted time on something she’s just not good at, but they’re never too old to grow out of the desire to be liked or appreciated or taken seriously, and unvarnished truths sting no matter the age.
You Hurt My Feelings is a 2023 American comedy-drama film written, directed and produced by Nicole Holofcener. It stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobias Menzies, Michaela Watkins, Arian Moayed and Jeannie Berlin. The film was shot in New York City in May 2022. It had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2023, and was released in theatres on May 26, 2023.
In the United States and Canada, You Hurt My Feelings was released alongside The Little Mermaid, Kandahar, The Machine, and About My Father, and was projected to gross around $1 million from 912 theatres over its four-day Memorial Day opening weekend. The film grossed $474,000 on its first day, and debuted to $1.4 million over the 3-day weekend (and $1.8 million over a four-day time frame).
About the Story
Beth is a successful memoirist and creative writing teacher who has recently written her first novel. She is in a loving marriage with Don, a therapist. Don is self-conscious about aging and struggles with his patients, many of whose problems he is not engaged with. Beth’s agent tells her the novel needs multiple revisions, causing Beth to doubt her work. She is reassured by Don, who reads a draft of the book and suggests looking for another agent who is more enthusiastic about it.
While shopping for socks, Don confesses to his brother Mark that he does not like Beth’s novel but feels he cannot be honest with her. Beth accidentally overhears their conversation when entering the shop with her sister Sarah, and Beth’s faith in their relationship is shaken. In an attempt to reassure her, Sarah tells Beth she occasionally lies to her husband about his acting performances, but this does not comfort Beth.
Beth continues to struggle and gets increasingly annoyed with Don. At Mark’s birthday dinner, Beth finally tells Don she overheard what he said. Though Don tries to tell Beth she is missing context, he eventually reveals that he does not like her book but does not want to discourage her.
When Don and Beth’s son, Elliot, accuses Beth of putting pressure on him to be extraordinary, Don and Beth finally discuss their differences. They talk about white lies they have told each other, and Beth realizes the way she reacts is partly due to her controlling father’s verbal abuse from when she was a child. She eventually finds a new, more enthusiastic agent.
You Hurt My Feelings (2023)
Directed by: Nicole Holofcener
Starring: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobias Menzies, Michaela Watkins, Arian Moayed, Owen Teague, Jeannie Berlin, Amber Tamblyn, David Cross, Sarah Steele, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Deniz Akdeniz
Screenplay by: Nicole Holofcener
Production Design by: Sally Levi
Cinematography by: Jeffrey Waldron
Film Editing by: Alisa Lepselter
Costume Design by: Chloe Karmin
Set Decoration by: Amber Thrane
Art Direction by: Kant Smith
Music by: Michael Andrews
MPAA Rating: R for language.
Distributed by: A24 Films
Release Date: January 22, 2023 (Sundance), May 26, 2023 (United States)
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