SIAN CLIFFORD IN LADY
Grand English lady lowers herself to be filmed for TV
Lady Isabella, aspires to be in the spotlight, and local talent show 'Stately Stars' provides her a break. However, high pressures and a loss of self lead to a surreal situation on her grand estate. Peter Bradshaw wrote of this film, "outrageous mockumentary is like 'Saltburn' on shrooms. . . With supreme entitlement, Sian Clifford’s Lady Isabella shines as ‘aristocracy’s answer to the Kardashians’ in this barnstorming comedy."
That is what she says, about the Kardashians. A comparison with Grey Gardens might be more appropriate, except that this is just one lady on an infinitely larger estate in England, and the relationship between her and the young man who has come to do a film about her is squeezed to the maximum. He is Sam (Laurie Kynaston), a thirtyish toy- boy type, whose "prettiness" is what has led Lady Isabella to invite him for a visit in the first place. When he stays on there is an attraction that develops on both sides. He quickly graduates to calling her "Izzy," and she soon wants to adopt him.
You will or won't like this film based on its extremely busy visuals and nervously quirky action. And your feelings toward Sian Clifford, the comic actress known for her acclaimed performance as Claire, the uptight, stressed, and successful older sister of the title character played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag - and so already rather famous in England. About the visuals: they are the result of this being a mockumentary, shot in the jerky manner of a very amateur cameraperson who cannot take their hands off the in-out zoom lens controls or refrain from engaging in frequent twisty angles. Isn't this, in view of the sophistication of digital equipment accessible to amateurs, an absurdly retro or facetious look? (Compare the look of Julia Loktev's Undesirable Friends journals.)
The action itself is twisty, because, for one thing, Lady Isabella is literally starting to disappear, big by bit, from the head down. Meanwhile she has become more and more depressed about her "meaningless" existence. But Sam wants her to stick around for the competition, Stately Stars. This event was meant to be a philanthropic contest for underprivileged youth, but Izzy has decided to enter the competition herself and perform her own self-centered multimedia art piece. What will she do? Stay tuned.
Critical assessments are high for both the framework of Samuel Abrahams' "touching and personal" feature film debut and for Sian Clifford's all-in performance. Chezelle Bingham says in Radio Times that "Lady is an organic, wacky, riotous comedic treasure that, underneath all of its sensationally self-deprecatingly British humour, has a surprisingly huge heart." Bradshaw says the film may be "a bit reliant on Clifford’s overwhelming firepower of performance," but commends the "laughs and unexpected tenderness" of the whole "very peculiar sentimental education" embodied by the filj's picture of the young man and older woman. Hanna HintinTIme Out goes so far as to suggest that the film "cuts to the core of what every person, rich or poor, sane or remarkably batty, yearns for: to be seen, to be held, to be reminded that you matter – with or without an audience." That's a lot to take in, but it's likely that it's there. This is obviously about being seen and sharing, and by the end it's become rather touching. And it's far less irritating than Saltburn.
The beautiful grand manor used as Lady Isabella's residence is Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk, officially described as "a lavish Grade II* listed Victorian Anglo-Italianate country house set within a 5,000-acre estate on the Suffolk-Norfolk border near Lowestoft." Beware of anything Anglo-Italianate, but the interiors however swiftly glimpsed appear to be beautifully decorated.
Lady, 97 mins., premiered at BFI London, showing also at Tailinn, Seattle and Taipei. Limited US theatrical release Oct. 2, 2026. Metacritic rating: 80%.