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Sundance 2025 Review: Sorry, Baby – “A film with humour and heart.”

Eva Victor appears in Sorry, Baby by Eva Victor, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Mia Cioffi Henry.

A warning – this film, and hence this review, mentions sexual assault. Please take care while reading.

I didn’t really know Eva Victor before watching her directorial debut, Sorry, Baby.  Never having seen the TV series Billions, where she features as character Rian, nor her online content, I wasn’t familiar with the comedian.  But I have a feeling that many are about to be acquainted with this talented artist after this buzzy premiere this past week at Sundance, and we will all be better for it.

Sorry, Baby is a film filled with small, honest moments.  These are moments of laughter, grief, anger and joy all experienced over five years in the life of Agnes (Eva Victor).  When we meet Agnes, she is welcoming her best friend Lydie (Naomi Ackie) whom she hasn’t seen in a while.  She seems excited and relieved to fall into this familiar pattern of togetherness, the type of friendship that is comfortable with the most ridiculous conversations and doesn’t shy away from silence.  Yet we get the impression that Lydie is worried about Agnes.  “It’s a lot, still being here,” she says to her friend.  “It’s a lot being anywhere,” Agnes replies.

Check out all of our Sundance coverage

It’s then that Victor sends us back in time to discover the root of Agnes’ melancholy.  As classmates and roommates at graduate school, Agnes and Lydie shared the same, trusted faculty advisor while developing their theses in English.  Agnes looks up to Preston Decker (Louis Cancelmi), a published author whose work left a lasting impression on her.  She is pleased with his praise of her work, wanting to impress him.  Agnes never expected that he would sexually assault her.  She was simply going to a rescheduled meeting to talk about her paper.  Now, and for the rest of her days, she lives with the consequences.

The tagline for Sorry, Baby reads, ‘Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on… for everyone around her, at least.’  And Agnes is exactly that – stuck with her trauma, her anger and her grief.  She no longer feels safe in her house, trying to cover up windows where someone could see inside, hearing noises that threaten in the night.  Yet, Victor as writer and director, strikes a tone that approaches Agnes’ life with humour and sincerity.  Sorry, Baby never shows the violence, choosing to stay outside, yet never strays from its main character.  The film is never about the act itself, but instead the aftermath and the friendship that helps Agnes to heal.

As that friend, Naomi Ackie is the light and warmth in Agnes’ otherwise grey world.  She’s the type of ride-or-die friend willing to burn an office to the ground, while still offering Agnes a safe space to process what has happened.  She is able to be vulnerable.  As time goes on, Agnes forms a connection with her awkward but sensitive neighbour Gavin, played by Lucas Hedges.  It’s been a while since I’d seen Hedges grace the screen and I was reminded why he was seemingly everywhere after his breakthrough in 2016’s Manchester by the Sea.  He is part of a few particularly tender moments in this film, though perhaps the scene that hit me most was that Victor shares with John Carroll Lynch over a sandwich.

A few years out now from her trauma, Agnes is in the midst of a panic attack when she meets this man, Pete, in his restaurant parking lot.  He is empathetic to her almost immediately.  He reminds her that three years is a long time, but also no time at all.  In one moment a stranger offers her more kindness than any doctor or school administrator.  It’s no wonder this part of the film is entitled ‘The Year with the Good Sandwich.’  It would be a moment that stood out.  One of those small moments Victor thrives at creating, and one that means everything.

It’s sometimes hard during a festival, where expectations can run high after a particularly talked-about premiere.  Not all films live up to their hype.  But, Sorry, Baby earns its buzz, and introduces a new and talented filmmaker to Sundance audiences.  It’s no wonder producer Barry Jenkins encouraged her to make this project.  He recognized potential and Eva Victor ran with it, creating a film with humour and heart, that explores trauma without melodrama.  Sorry, Baby is a film that feels authentic, acknowledging that life is hard, healing is harder, and yet even in that realization, its final moments lead us to be hopeful.

Sorry, Baby premiered January 27th, 2025 at the Sundance Film Festival.  It has screenings (mostly sold-out) until February 1st.  Its online ticketing is also sold out.

Note for those sensitive to scenes involving animals: there is a scene where Agnes’ cat catches a mouse which is badly injured and Agnes must finish the job.  The mouse is shown injured, and its death not necessarily smooth (though not DIRECTLY shown)

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