Bad Behaviour

It’s genuinely thrilling to watch a filmmaker with a specific voice and oddball style taking genuine risks, and the way she successfully navigates these tonal transitions, how she cuts the cynicism with sincerity and vice versa – well, it’s kind of miracle.

What remains undeniable is Englert’s directorial chops. Bad Behaviour is exactly the story she wanted to tell. She couldn’t care less if you hate it or love it, refusing to pander to anyone’s expectations. Good for her. That sort of bad behavior is what makes her stand out as a filmmaker.

Through it all, Connelly and Englert completely sell their conflicted yearning for one another’s love but because this section is a late arrival, the revelations have to come thick and fast..

Bad Behaviour is a frustrating watch. Englert doesn't wrestle the material into a manageable form, and struggles to find a consistent tone.

Englert’s first feature isn’t low on creativity, but visibly lacks cohesion. It’s difficult to connect to, disparate in its own storytelling, mood, and tone. It’s an audacious script and directorial vision, falling short.

Fragmented, incoherent, and disjointed in the worst way, ‘Bad Behavior’ allows Jennifer Connelly and Ben Whitshaw a narrow escape. Writer and director Alice Englert wastes some world class talent, in a story which never really hangs together.

Despite a committed and great performance from Jennifer Connelly, the themes of co-dependency and toxicity within mother/daughter relationships were simply not executed well. It goes without saying, but this is one of the biggest disappointments in recent memory.