If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is an incredibly honest, dark, and at times, comedic outlook on motherhood.
This emotionally charged film sees Linda (Rose Byrne), a working therapist, struggle with the reality of what her life has become. After her apartment ceiling collapses due to a burst pipe, she’s forced to stay at a less than accommodating motel managed by James (A$AP Rocky), an unusually enthusiastic superintendent, with her daughter (Delaney Quinn) until the massive gaping hole is fixed. And from here, it seems as though the world deals her bad hand, after bad hand. Her daughter is battling an unknown illness and is unwilling to help herself, her husband (Christian Slater) is absent and emotionally unavailable, her therapist (Conan O’Brien) doesn’t seem to really care about her or her struggles, and her clients only add to the chaos.
Mary Bronstein’s film dives deep under the surface of what motherhood is. The stereotypical, straight edge, unrealistic, “superhero” type motherly figure we normally see in mainstream films isn’t necessarily who we are faced with. Instead we see Linda stripped back and messy, with every “ugly” emotion bubbling and bursting at the surface.
Reflecting that of real life, the film is chaotic and unpredictable, and is no doubt one of the more realistic depictions of what happens to people when they’re pushed past their limits. If anything, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a study of human emotions. While her role as a mother is a pivotal part of the story, audiences who don’t know what motherhood is like can still be empathetic and understand her pain and stress as we feel her frustrations, her agony, and her defeat.
The beautiful cinematography is also a big part of the storytelling and how viewers gain a deeper understanding of who Linda is as a person and how she thinks. We’re also confronted by Linda’s raw emotions through the many intentional close up shots. Where we’re forced to hold space for them and experience firsthand what the environment around her sounds like more than what it looks like, and how that affects the way she continues to live as everything in her life seems to fall apart. Which in of itself is anxiety inducing as we’re all privy to the mayhem around her and have no hand in stopping it. It almost feels claustrophobic as audiences only see the constant distress on her face, rather than what surrounds her physically. So we’re trapped in whatever emotional state she seems to bear throughout the film.
With the many accolades surrounding Rose Byrne’s performance, it would be a disservice not to mention how exceptional in this role. She holds the heaviness of the film and looks after Linda’s spiralling and brutal emotions delicately, without ever over exaggerating these feelings that do feel truly tangible to the human experience.
And it’s not a surprise that A24 picked up this film – with their track record of distributing movies that can sometimes feel bizarre and other worldly, this surrealist film fits right in and takes its place amongst the other indie favourites in A24’s roster.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is sure to leave audiences reeling with their thoughts on what they just watched. Sitting with the honest depiction of motherhood, and the complexities of how humans feel and confront emotions is the beauty of how film moves us and stays with us.
