‘Lady’ review: ‘Fleabag’ star Sian Clifford anchors bold, surreal mockumentary satire

Dir: Samuel Abrahams. UK. 2025. 97mins

Initially taking part in like a now-familiar eat the wealthy satire, Samuel Abrahams’ debut function slowly evolves into one thing sudden and way more attention-grabbing. That includes a memorable central efficiency from Fleabag star Sian Clifford because the eccentric aristocratic topic of a fly-on-the wall documentary, the movie blends outlandish comedy with deeper themes of id and worry to robust, stunning outcomes. It received’t be for everybody, however audiences ready to comply with its lead – and significantly that of an exceptional Clifford – shall be rewarded.

Clifford and Kynaston serve up energetic chemistry 

Premiering in London’s Dare strand, Woman marks a assured step up for Abrahams, who began off directing observational tv documentaries earlier than shifting into fictional shorts; his first, 2010’s Join, was nominated for a Bafta. The presence of Clifford, who additionally lately appeared in The Ballad Of Wallace Island, ought to assist increase the profile of a movie which deserves to search out an viewers; streaming might, nonetheless, present its greatest probability of creating a mark.

When filmmaker Sam (Laurie Kynaston) turns up at Ravenhyde Corridor (really Somerleyton Corridor in Suffolk), the sprawling nation pile owned by 40-something Woman Isabella, he thinks he is aware of what to anticipate: a narcissistic toff determined for the limelight. And that’s precisely what he appears to search out; there are critical shades of Saltburn as Isabella prances round in the hunt for an ice bucket, condescends prepare dinner Becky (Juliet Cowan) and flirts ferociously with Sam. Sam (clearly modelled on Abrahams himself) erroneously thinks he’s been employed by Netflix, and so swallows his discomfort and retains his eye firmly on the prize – particularly a undertaking that may lastly web him a Bafta win – and the cameras hold rolling.

The mockumentary format largely works effectively, save for some contrived moments the place it’s troublesome to imagine the crew would have been filming. And with that crew staying quiet behind the digicam, Woman performs as, primarily, a two-handed chamber piece with Clifford and Kynaston serving up an lively chemistry as this oddest of strange {couples}. Within the early a part of the movie, Clifford steals the present, her flamboyant quirkiness – garish outfits, mannered speech, gross self-absorption – overshadowing every thing in her wake. Kynaston is superb because the shell-shocked straight man, pushed by his personal need to lastly make a press release together with his filmmaking.

As issues progress, nonetheless, the dynamic begins to shift, and each characters start to shed the artifice and reveal their true selves. An early swerve into magical surrealism comes out of left-field however slowly earns its place because the screenplay, by Abrahams and his accomplice Miranda Campbell Bowlin, strips again the superficial layers to discover deeper concepts of id, loss and loneliness.

As Isabella’s tragic again story emerges, her character comes into focus – at the same time as she finds herself actually disappearing – and Clifford brings a rawness and vulnerability that cuts via the extra outlandish features of her character. (And there are actually many of those, significantly when Isabella decides she needs to place collectively a dance/artwork fusion efficiency and compete in her personal ‘Stately Stars’ expertise present for deprived kids.) Equally, Kynaston confidently shepherds Sam via his personal journey of discovery, as he realises he, too, is pushed by his personal deeply buried demons, and is compelled to confront the truth that he hasn’t been working underneath essentially the most genuine of artistic intentions.

Nicely-curated manufacturing design from Agnieszka Dębska turns this opulent nation property into one thing of a gilded cage, whereas Korsshan Schlauer’s agile cinematography grows much less frantic and extra intimate the nearer Sam and Isabella develop into. The extraordinary rating, from Jonny Woodley, is an arresting, immersive mix of human voices (which at factors is paying homage to the theme to latest Jilly Cooper TV adaptation Rivals) and dramatic tones that underscore each the farce and the pathos of the piece. Woman is an terrible lot of enjoyable however, beneath the surplus, it proves to be wry skewering of our obsession with actuality TV stars and influencers that inform us nothing trustworthy about ourselves, and a poignant research of our very human have to be seen.