You Hurt My Feelings (2023) Movie Review
Writer and director Nicole Holofcener takes an intimate look at the inner workings of relationships in You Hurt My Feelings. The main focus is on a married couple, Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Don (Tobias Menzies). They have a grown-up son Eliot (Owen Teague) and live a comfortable life in New York City. Don is a therapist and Beth is a writer. Not the type of famous writer that she may want to be, but a good enough one to live in NYC in something larger than a shoebox.
The turning point in the movie comes when Beth overhears Don saying that he hates her latest book, which has been stuck in the editing phase for quite some time. Beth’s whole world becomes tilted, as she confronts the realization that Don has been lying to her every time he’s read a new draft of the book. Most of the movie follows Beth as she tries to navigate this new realization.
Part of Holofcener’s talent is showcasing awkward situations, wherein people are trying to do the right thing but fall miserably short. You might remember her 2013 effort Enough Said, filled with tense, awkward moments among the relationship triangle at the center of the movie. Holofcener works her magic here as well, with plenty of cringey conversations between people who are supposed to be in love.
There’s enough humor sprinkled throughout these conversations to keep it from being totally uncomfortable to watch. Louis-Dreyfus and Menzies have an easy chemistry on screen and their line delivery proves they are still at the top of their games. Louis-Dreyfus in particular balances the line between absurdity and reality extraordinarily well. She knows these are privileged problems to have and somehow manages to poke fun at upper-class New Yorkers’ problems while still creating a sympathetic character.
You Hurt My Feelings feels a lot like going to therapy or just sitting in on someone else’s therapy session (which happens several times throughout the one hour and thirty-three minute runtime). It’s not laugh out loud funny but there are plenty of insightful moments about how we operate in our most intimate relationships. It’s another win for Holofcener and cements Louis-Dreyfus as a steady force in her post-Veep career.
You’ll like this movie if:
1. You’ve gone to a lot of therapy
2. You like stories about couples
3. You like stories that fixate on the inner workings of a relationship
