Film Review: Sian Clifford is in the Lap of Luxury with ‘Lady’

A lady is polite. She never causes a scene, she never gossips nor interrupts. Lady Isabella, by this definition, is no lady. She is, however, deliciously entertaining.

To summarize what Lady is about, in its range of genre and zany premise, may well be impossible. Instead, I can tell you what Lady is not: Lady is not a period piece. Lady is not a sequel or adaption, and Lady is not to be missed.

The mockumentary follows a middle-aged recluse, Lady Isabella or “Izzy”, who hires a documentary team to film her for a Netflix feature as she enters a children’s talent show she throws on the grounds of her sprawling English countryside estate each year. A few immediate challenges arise. She is 1. not a child 2. is not being pursued by Netflix and 3. not talented. She is lonely, narcissistic, and a bit of an alcoholic. She is also fun, honest, and impeccably dressed. The camera calls to her like Norma Desmond, a star of her own making. One the audience is situated, Izzy undergoes a surrealistic twist that stays in the peripheral throughout the film. Said twist adds dimensionality to the character without becoming an unwelcome metaphor. Instead its off-kilter schtick fits perfectly in the world created by director Samuel Abrahams and his co-writer Miranda Campbell Bowling.

This weird and wonderful film about finding your creative voice is a superb directorial debut by Abrahams. With Lady he throws a full dinner set of plates in the air and keeps them spinning in a spectacular fashion. The story moves well from one adventure to the other between a the young male documentarian and a middle-aged woman with good taste a la Harold and Maude. Throughout its 97-minute run time, the tone conjures up comps like Grey Gardens, Schitt’s Creek, The Invisible Man, The Office, and Saltburn.

The key to pulling off this high-wire act is hiring the right person who is a good enough actor to play talentless, and enigmatic. For that, Abrahams found Fleabag actress Sian Clifford, who pulls off every scene with a charming, intoxicating ferocity.

For the Fleabag fans, Clifford delivers enough dry humor and snappy one-liners to scratch the itch. But beyond that, the actress is taking new shape, avoiding playing Izzy as insufferable or pitiable. The character’s posh accent and vain ambition come across delusional at first, but the more of Izzy’s motivations are revealed the funnier – and more heartfelt – it gets. This is due to good writing, yes, but relies heavily on Clifford’s ability to dip in and out of vulnerability, with an absurdist flair. She is is nearly every scene, and not only that, but at any given moment is singing, dancing, rolling around in paint, and planking in pink trousers. She’s a well-endowed toddler in their “watch me to a handstand” phase. her most impressive fear might be compact monologues. These longer stretches of one-sided “dialogues” are often filled with important plot points and a range of emotions that Clifford calls attention to without killing the flow of the script – nailing tough alliteration at a speed that could rival Lorelai Gilmore. They also include loads of alliteration which could trip up most Stelar Adler alumni, or even Lorelai Gilmore, but not Clifford. All of this proves she should be leading many, many more films.

While on the topic of casting, Lady also includes a lovely performance by a local raven, who went by the name Walter de Niro. In an age where filmmakers, actors, and audience members are craving more original material, it doesn’t get any better than Lady.

Lady is in theaters October 2nd.

SCORE: ★★★