Sian Clifford, best known for her role as the fierce sister in Fleabag, returns with a barnstorming performance in the mockumentary comedy 'Lady', director Samuel Abrahams' feature debut. The film follows the haughty but troubled aristocrat Lady Isabella, who welcomes a young filmmaker into her country estate with calamitous results. Shot at Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk, the film has been described as a 'scuzzier, shroomier B-side to Saltburn'.
Clifford's Lady Isabella, who calls herself 'aristocracy's answer to the Kardashians', hosts an annual talent show for local children called Stately Stars. When she decides to compete herself with a multimedia performance-installation piece, the visiting filmmaker Sam, played by Laurie Kynaston, is secretly thrilled at the extraordinary story. The dynamic between them blends elements of Sunset Boulevard and Grey Gardens, with both characters displaying predatory cunning and vulnerability.
The film's central theme revolves around Lady Isabella's invisibility as a perimenopausal woman and artist. She argues that she is not self-obsessed but self-centred, as an artist must explore the self. While her delusions echo those of David Brent, the film's gender perspective and magic realist touches give Lady Isabella a unique charm. Despite some deviations from strict mockumentary rules, the film offers laughs and unexpected tenderness in this peculiar sentimental education.
