Actor Rose Byrne drawn to Berlinale comedy drama about ‘under-examined’ role of mothers

BERLIN: Actor Rose Byrne said her new comedy drama “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You,” which is competing for the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize, portrays motherhood in a way not often seen on screen.

Byrne said the film, written and directed by New York-based Mary Bronstein, resonated with her because it showed the horror and beauty of being a parent, specifically a mother.

“The mother is so under-examined, and through the lens of a woman, too. And this was such a rare insight to see,” Byrne told Reuters on Monday.

Byrne, who was nominated for two Emmy Awards for her role in the TV series “Damages,” stars as Linda, a working mother who starts to unravel after she has to stay in a hotel room with her sick child due to a huge hole in her apartment’s ceiling.

The film draws on director Bronstein’s own experience with having to temporarily move across the United States to treat her daughter’s illness, she told Reuters.

Bronstein, who directed and starred in 2008’s “Yeast” alongside Greta Gerwig, recalls writing the script in the bathroom of the hotel she was staying in with her daughter because it was the only room where she could turn on the light.

“It’s not autobiographical,” Bronstein said. “But what I like to say is it’s emotionally true.”

The camera often shows Linda in extreme close-up shots, which is meant to create a sense of claustrophobia in audiences that mirrors what the character is experiencing, said Bronstein.

“I wanted to be behind her eyeballs almost,” she said.

“By getting close, there’s nowhere to go, there’s nowhere to hide. And you have to deal with this woman as a human being.”

Famous names

Late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien and rapper A$AP Rocky also feature in the film that is one of 19 competing for the top prize in the German capital.

Bronstein said the film’s distributor, independent studio A24, had suggested she meet with a few musicians to cast the role of James, another tenant at the hotel in the film.

Rocky, who had never acted, instantly clicked, she said.

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“He is a sort of like a Renaissance man, he does art in many different ways,” said Bronstein about Rocky, the romantic partner of recording star Rihanna and father of her two sons.

“And he really was at a place where he wanted to explore acting,” she said.

O’Brien, she said, was in “a radical place that he’s done everything that he wanted to do in his career,” and jumped on the opportunity to do something different. “He’s doing serious acting. It’s no joke what he’s doing.”