You know that moment when you’re in true mourning, after sobbing for hours and hours someone makes a joke. Maybe it’s uncouth, maybe it’s not, but it certainly feels that way when everyone at the wake breaks into an uproarious laugh. Eva Victor manages to sustain that tone throughout nearly the entire runtime of her directorial debut, Sorry, Baby. A truly remarkable film that takes the viewer from the lowest horrified lows, to the dizzying heights of true and deep belly laughs in the midst of the trauma being displayed on screen.

The film is centered around Agnes, a literature professor living in the woods of New York State. Her close friend Lydie (Naomi Ackie) comes to visit to let Agnes know that Lydie and her girlfriend are going to have a baby via sperm donor. Agnes initially has a somewhat mixed reaction, and seems uncomfortable when the two of them reunite with their former classmates as they reminisce about their time in the grad program under the tutelage of Professor Decker (Louis Cancelmi). Agnes visibly winces when her friend Natasha points out that Agnes was Decker’s very favorite student.

We flash back, seeing Agnes and her classmates in the program, each finishing and presenting their thesis to Professor Decker. Much of what will transpire is hinted at, the act never being show. We know what’s going to happen when Agnes winces at her former professor’s name. We get a better idea when he asks Agnes to go over her thesis at his home rather than in his office. We don’t need to see the act to understand the ramifications of it. The thing we are left with is a broken woman, who doesn’t understand how this terrible thing has happened to her.

And then the movie really begins. We spend time with Agnes after the assault as she tries to piece herself back together. She attempts to find justice, she attempts to move on. Nothing pans out exactly how she might have hoped, but even as she begins to repair herself, she never entirely loses her spark. She is not simply a victim, she is still Agnes, even as she toils through her trauma. Along the way Lydie is always there for her, but the more surprising appearances are by the strangers who fully see her. A District Attorney (Hettienne Park) that dismisses her from jury duty, her neighbor who still desperately wants to date her (Lucas Hodges), and my personal favorite Pete, a loud brash rude sandwich shop proprietor portrayed by John Carroll Lynch.

The film never loses its sense of humor. For as horrible as the situation is, the film points out the absurdity of the world that allows this, without ever making light of the act. Threading the needle between taking this seriously, while also being chock full of truly hilarious jokes is such a mind bending maneuver. It’s the kind of writing anyone would be proud of, but the film also looks sharp as a tack. The camera work is stunning, with views out of Agnes upstate New York home instilling the forlorn somberness the film maintains. Indie films often look a little shabby, especially from first time directors, but Sorry, Baby is a tour de force on every level of film making.

4.5/5