While it finds an audience, the trauma plot narrative can develop into an uncontrolled wildfire when it comes to modern fictional drama on screen, which often takes away the reality of pain and perspectives of fellow humans going through genuine suffering. With Sorry, Baby, Eva Victor’s notable debut feature, in which she also plays the lead role of Agnes, she reveals the story of a sexual assault with a unique combination of tenderness, wry observation and nuanced thoughtfulness.

In Sorry, Baby, broken up into five acts starting with chapter titles that begin ‘The Year With…,’ and told in a non-linear fashion, we initially join Agnes and her friend Lydie (a perfectly cast, brilliant performance from Naomi Ackie) meeting at Agnes home for a catch-up, with walks in the wilderness of Massachusetts and chats on men and sex from the female perspective, it’s naturally performed and very darkly funny. During their catch-up, Lydie reveals she’s pregnant, and needed to check on her long-term friend, to see how she’s getting on, while also suggesting to the audience that something terrible had happened to Agnes in the not-so-far-away past.

While it’s evident that Agnes is functioning under the shadow of a low-lying depression, she also seems to be finding her confidence, and what happened hasn’t stopped her from pursuing her career as an English professor in a local University. It’s then we flashback to ‘the bad thing’ (subtitled in that manner) during her time as a student and writing her thesis. At that point, Agnes’ world is full of possibility and she’s getting good feedback from her adviser, a Professor Preston Decker (Louis Cancelmi), but one night, after he invites her to his house, he sexually assaults her. While you never witness the moment, the scene sets the camera outside Decker’s house over a few hours, and when she leaves the house visibly distressed, with Professor Decker lurking guiltily in the background, you know something has happened. This is further proven by her drive home, her confused and ashamed desolation which points to something beyond her control.  

From here, we wind through time and her sharing her shock to her best friend Lydie, who is absolutely her strength exactly when she needs it. They try to report the Man, but they’re not quick enough and he’s already found his way out of the situation before they’ve even had a chance to. While there is an over-zealous Doctor that is a little dramatic, during her check-up he uses the word ‘usually’ in relation to her state, which is knowingly there to highlight the reality of an ongoing major issue in society – almost where anyone who is sexually assaulted should expect it to happen, or even know what to do if it does – which is a terrible truth. There’s also two HR employees who can’t help her either but it doesn’t sway far from what can happen, and I say that from experience where the person causing the issue removed themselves from the situation and they’re absolved as they’re out of the system. We’ve still got a long way to go.

During Sorry, Baby – alongside its factual central emphasis – Eva Victor embraces a dark comedy, because even though this could destroy her, she endures and rebuilds, since what else can she do? Lucas Hedges’ quirky neighbour, Gavin, also offers some funny moments during their friendly fling, but when he tries to push Agnes to a place she doesn’t want to go, we see her authentic self come back to life. In essence, those moments are a reminder that much of the world around Agnes is trying to dictate to her who she should be, but she’s already content with the plan she has made for herself, outside of what’s ‘expected’ in society – and I loved that about her to. She also shines in a wonderful standout scene with John Carroll Lynch’s Pete and a ‘good sandwich’, when Agnes offers a poignant truth about how a traumatic moment can not only affect your day-to-day life, but it can also be forgotten about – and that fight your mind will have to endure forever.

As well as a world that feels lived in relatable, it’s worth mentioning Mia Cioffi Henry’s exquisitely framed cinematography that’s a huge part of the storytelling in Sorry, Baby. And it’s writer/director and star Eva Victor who holds us in her world from start to finish with a tremendous performance that’s honest and raw – but not aggressively so – as it smartly balances out a tough but substantial subject matter with dry wit, consideration and intelligence.

Sorry, Baby is in UK cinemas now, from A24 and Picturehouse Entertainment