Lady - SIFF [2026]

Lady [2025]

Film

This film was viewed at the 52nd Seattle International Film Festival

When Sam (Laurie Kynaston) and his film crew arrive at the sprawling estate of the eccentric Lady Isabella (Sian Clifford) to begin their documentary, it is hard to know exactly what tone Lady is going to take. That uncertainty doesn't last long. Lady Isabella, performing for the camera as if she were the sole subject of a prestige documentary project, calls herself "the aristocracy's answer to the Kardashians." Samuel Abrahams' mockumentary fires on all cylinders from that moment forward, delivering a film that is as hilariously entertaining as it is quietly devastating, and one of the best things I have seen at the festival.

Commonly, mockumentary films engage with the camera crew in a fourth-wall breaking factor that really establishes the genre as its own animal. Lady sees Sam barks demands at the hidden crew, which feels like we are responsible for the camera's gaze, and subsequently the crew often refuses to listen to Sam. The defiance of the camera, in turn our own refusal to look away from a car crash so to speak, can be gimmicky at times but when consuming the film as a whole, it operates as a solid vehicle for Abrahams' wildly rich thematics. Once Sam discovers that Lady Isabella lured him and his crew to the manor with the idea that Netflix was willing to bankroll the feature, only for it all to be a facade, the BAFTA nominated director decides this chicanery is beneath him. A quarrel ensues with Isabella needing the camera to continue rolling and to be on her. When the dust settles (yes the camera is still rolling), a beguiling condition besets Isabella. She is slowly turning invisible.

There's a reason that Isabella namedrops the Kardashians, along with Netflix, and her need to establish her creative identity by trying to win her charity event talent show "Stately Stars," which, mind you, is for children, along with the prospect of not being on camera resulting in her literal disappearance. It's an incisive jump into Abrahams' pool of ideas, that the leering camera provides a power to those that, let's be honest, don't exactly need to be seen. Without the lens upon her, Isabella may as well completely fade from existence. Of course, when this supernatural occurrence begins, Sam quickly changes his tune and is thrilled to film a documentary. We, the camera crew, oblige by filming constantly, providing an almost uneasy leer over the reeling woman whose identity is now being relegated to "woman with inexplicable invisibility."

Lady [2025]

Within all the hilarity of Abrahams and Miranda Campbell Bowling's screenplay, consisting of plenty of cringe humor a la "The Office" or Christopher Guest styled mockumentaries like Best in Show or Waiting for Guffman, there lies a fantastic depth to Isabella's character that propels the film forward. Lady isn't just a strait-laced comedy focusing on the exploitation of the subject or the modern need to be famous and needed, but a rather intrepid portrait of maternal grief through these lenses. Can we really say that Isabella is physically disappearing because she's not receiving the attention and lauded praise she believes she needs? Or are we seeing the metaphysical manifestation of emotional deterioration occur for a mother yearning to see her son just once more? The suspenseful reveal of Isabella's tragic familial situation is done with casual asides from Isabella herself, as if to not admit the pain she's going through (she even gags at the word trauma). Yet the humor and heart of Lady is what keeps it all afloat and working harmoniously, to fantastic effect.

Even with all of the delightful aspects of Lady's creative successes, in Abrahams' direction and writing alongside Bowling, the film quite simply works thanks to a sensational Sian Clifford. Her oscillation of humor and sadness is so profoundly on point, capturing the fine line between happiness and heartbreak that only a camera pointed at you could elicit. Comedic delivery, physicality, and chemistry with Kynaston are all phenomenally displayed, which prove the actress who's most commonly known as Phoebe Waller-Bridge's sister in Fleabag more than has the firepower to be a star.

Creating a mockumentary, a diversely layered one at that, for a feature debut is quite the undertaking. Abrahams was not only able to pull it off with aplomb, delivering strong creative work, but pull an extraordinary performance out of his lead in Clifford. It is one hell of a debut from a filmmaker worth keeping your eye on, and if Netflix has any sense, they already are.

Froth

Given the aristocratic feel of Clifford's performance and I guess the overall vibe of the film, I felt it prudent to have a drink that screams sophistication. I remembered I'd been keeping a bottle from Floodland Brewing sitting in my makeshift beer cellar, it is simply a closet, and thought to myself, why not now? French Creek, brewed in 2023, and thusly aged almost two years since its bottling and conditioning is a wild concoction of four different grape varietals grown at the French Creek Vineyard in Prosser, Washington. The grapes' press runnings are then fermented in a blend of saison barrels which brought out the fruit forward flavors. I've had a few other Floodland beers before, ones I didn't age for so long, and I would've guessed the flavor profile would be a tart, refreshing, wine forward saison that's as crisp and lovely as my other samples of their beers. But aging the French Creek gave it a much more mellow and sweeter taste, one that didn't overwhelm the crisp chardonnay flavor of the grapes but accented it. It was sublimely balanced, and much more fruit forward than I anticipated, but with a bite of saison flavoring that prevented it from ever getting too deep into sweetness or bitterness. All things considered, it was one of the best saisons I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying, and there's something about enjoying the ephemeral that makes me a little more nostalgic about it. I know I'll never have that same taste again, and instead of lamenting over the past, I find myself thinking fondly of being able to enjoy it at all.