Despite a pedigree steeped in industry nepotism, “Bad Behaviour” is a terrible film with few redeeming qualities. This dull, weird movie about an unpleasant woman seeking enlightenment is just as aimless as its characters.
Former child actress Lucy (Jennifer Connelly) is desperate for a little spiritual healing, so she heads off to a mountain retreat led by guru Elon Bello (Ben Whishaw). Before shutting off her phone to the outside world, Lucy makes a call to her stuntwoman daughter Dylan (Alice Englert, who also wrote and directed the film) to let her know that while she’s going to be unavailable for a while, she’s very concerned about her child. It’s this sort of bad behavior to which the title is referring, and it becomes clear over the course of her stay that Lucy has some issues with co-dependency.
Whatever Englert was going for in her debut feature, she never achieves it. The film is an absolute pointless mess, with non-compelling characters and a story where very little actually happens. The mother-daughter relationship is equally disjointed with a script that rambles around, and as a filmmaker, Englert is never sure enough of herself or her film to eventually land at a suitable, thoughtful destination. It’s as frustrating as it is lousy.
Despite reliably strong performances from Whishaw and Connelly, I couldn’t relate to the film or the characters at all, and Englert couldn’t make them feel relevant to me (or make me care about any of them) through her direction and storytelling. Nothing about “Bad Behaviour” worked for me. This one’s a real dog.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 