Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on… for everyone around her, at least. A film by Eva Victor, starring Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, Louis Cancelmi, Kelly McCormack, Hettienne Park, E.R. Fightmaster, Lucas Hedges, and John Carroll Lynch.
Sorry, Baby
Eva Victor
(2025)
Agnes (Eva Victor), a literature professor living alone in New England with her gray cat Olga, gets a visit from her best friend Lydie (Naomi Ackie), who has moved to New York and lived with her partner.
Over the weekend, Lydie seems concerned that Agnes is still stuck in the same place, worried it might be hard for her to stay put. But Agnes brushes it off casually, saying it’s hard to be anywhere these days—hinting that something difficult happened in her past.
While Agnes dozes off on the sofa, Lydie hears someone knocking at the door. She opens it to find a young man she’s never seen before. He’s equally surprised to see her, thinking he might have knocked on the wrong house. Agnes jolts awake and quickly rushes to the door. She introduces Gavin (Lucas Hedges) as her neighbor. Gavin then remembers that Lydie is Agnes’s friend that Agnes mentioned would be staying for the weekend, though he’d forgotten. Agnes casually brushes him off, saying he lives “over there” with a vague gesture. Seeing Agnes’s flustered reaction, Lydie finds it hilarious, suspecting that her friend is sleeping with the cute neighbor but has kept it a secret despite Agnes’s denials. The next day, Lydie tells Agnes that she’s pregnant via sperm donor.
Lydie and Agnes attend a dinner party at Natasha’s house, where they reunite with old friends Devin (Cody Reiss) and Logan (Jordan Mendoza), whom they haven’t seen since graduating four years ago. As the group shares memories of grad school and their thesis nightmares, Natasha (Kelly McCormack) is visibly jealous and holds a grudge against Agnes. It’s clear she resents that Agnes was the group’s advisor’s favorite and is now a full-time professor at Fairpoint while Natasha is still only a part-time teacher.
The next day, as Lydie prepares to leave, she becomes worried about Agnes when she learns that Agnes is still in the same office she said she was going to switch out of. Agnes deflects, telling Lydie she just doesn’t want to explain why being in that office feels weird. Agnes then assures Lydie that she’s not going to die. If she was going to kill herself, she would have done it last year or the year before. Before Lydie heads out, Agnes asks her not to wait so long to visit next time.
The film flashes back to their time in graduate school, where they are all part of a thesis group led by their advisor, literature professor Preston Decker (Louis Cancelmi). While Lydie, Devin, and Logan appear to be struggling with their theses, it’s clear to everyone in the group that Agnes is Decker’s favorite.
Agnes receives a message from Decker calling her thesis extraordinary. Sensing that Agnes has feelings for him, Lydie jokingly suggests that she should sleep with him. To Lydie’s surprise, Agnes says she doesn’t want to, even though Lydie insists that Decker wants to sleep with her. Agnes assures Lydie that even if he asked, she would still say no.
The next day, Agnes meets Decker in his office to discuss her thesis. She learns he’s working on a new book and enthusiastically asks to hear more about it. When Decker says he thinks the book is terrible, Agnes playfully remarks that there have to be books like that to help distinguish the truly great ones. She then confesses that she loves his first novel and thinks about it all the time. Just as Decker is about to review her thesis, he receives a text from his ex-wife. He apologizes, saying he has to leave because their child is sick, and promises to reschedule their meeting. Before he runs out, Decker shows her the first edition of To the Lighthouse that he just acquired.
Later, Agnes returns to Decker’s office, but he’s not there. She receives a text telling her to meet him at his house, which is nearby. Trusting him, Agnes goes to the house and enters. We don’t see what happens inside; the camera remains fixed on the exterior of the house for hours until night falls. In the middle of the night, the door opens, and Agnes emerges. Decker watches from the doorway as Agnes puts on her boots and walks away without a word. She gets in her car and drives home.
Traumatized, Agnes reveals to Lydie that Decker sexually assaulted her. The next day, they go to see Dr. Evans (Marc Carver) for an examination. Dr. Evans explains that it’s usually best to go to the emergency room immediately after an assault so that a sexual assault forensic evidence kit can be effective. Since Agnes has already bathed, which would have washed away any evidence, all he can do now is run blood tests to check for pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, along with a cervical culture. Lydie learns that Decker is transferring to a job in New York, convinced that he’s running away.
“Sorry, Baby” is a black comedy-drama and the directorial debut of American filmmaker Eva Victor. The film tells the story of the aftermath of a sexual assault that leaves the protagonist, Agnes, traumatized.
The cast gives a captivating performance, especially Eva Victor, who not only wrote and directed the film but also stars in the leading role as Agnes. The memorable cast includes Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, and John Carroll Lynch.
Although the film’s non-chronological structure is a stylistic choice, I don’t like that the filmmaker placed the first section at the beginning instead of in chronological order, where it belongs near the end of the timeline. The ambiguity of this section, which deliberately obscures the assault as merely “something bad happened,” was frustrating and predictable. It made the eventual revelation in the second section feel underwhelming, like a slow-burn that never delivered a satisfying twist.
The character of Gavin, played by Lucas Hedges, feels underdeveloped. Similarly, John Carroll Lynch’s character, Pete, feels like a non-playable character (NPC) from a video game who just appears to offer words of wisdom. I have to admit, though, that John Carroll Lynch delivers a heartfelt performance despite his very short screen time.
The film would also benefit from better editing and a shorter runtime. For instance, while I found the jury scene hilarious, it could have been trimmed or removed entirely without affecting the main narrative.
“Sorry, Baby” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 27 January 2025. The film had a limited theatrical release in the United States on 27 June before expanding nationwide on 25 July, by A24.
