Film review: Appropriate Behavior

APPROPRIATE Behavior is an excellent debut feature from writer, director and actress Desiree Akhavan.

The film evolves around Shirin, a bisexual New Yorker struggling with her sexuality in the aftermath of a break-up with her girlfriend. As she goes from one disastrous date to the next, she must also contend with her Iranian family who don’t know she is bisexual.

Akhavan’s film is very well-written and is clever and witty and she has crafted a brilliant character in Shirin that is no doubt based on her.

Shirin feels like a very real person, who I’m sure that we can all relate to regardless of sexuality. Her struggles are those most of us have been through at some stage. On a personal note, I know that I related to her sarcastic sense of humour and trying to be funny in awkward situations.

At first I did not think it necessary to show flashbacks of her relationship with her ex-girlfriend, Maxine, because I’d prefer to see how she struggles to cope after the break-up and to move on from it. But I soon came to learn that they helped show how much her character was struggling to find her identity. Shirin is also determined to repair her relationship with Maxine, and we learn why they broke up and what made the two women fall in love in the first place.

While there is also the element of Shirin struggling to come out to her family, it does have a huge impact on her relationships. Akhavan has also packed the film with some delightfully weird supporting characters that no doubt most of us have come across at some stage in our lives. As weird as they are, they help Shirin along the way in realising who she really is.

Akhavan is not only a great writer and director but an excellent actress as well. I found her performance really wonderful. As mentioned above, I got the sense that this was an autobiographical film but this does not detract from the film. Akhavan is clearly a gifted comedic actress who has excellent timing and knows how to deliver clever one-liners. The supporting cast are great as well. Rebecca Henderson gives a sweet performance as Maxine, while Halley Feiffer is delightful as Shirin’s best friend Crystal. Also excellent are Anh Duong and Hooman Majd as Shirin’s parents, who leave you constantly guessing as to whether they know if their daughter is bisexual or not.

Akhavan shows a great deal of talent with her first film, not only behind the camera but in front of it as well. Appropriate Behavior is clever, witty and very real.

Appropriate Behavior is showing in Sydney as part of the annual Queer Screen Film Festival, September 17–21. For details and tickets, visit queerscreen.org.au

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