Nicole Holofcener Explores Relationships And Truthfulness In The Poignant ‘You Hurt My Feelings’ — Film Review

Would you lie to your loved ones to protect their feelings? This is the big question Nicole Holofcener ( Enough Said, Friends with Money) explores in You Hurt My Feelings. Using a borderline smugly successful New York couple, this movie pokes holes in the everyday white lies we tell our spouses and kids and how they can end up being destructive.

Writer-professor Beth ( Veep’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and therapist Don ( The Crown’s Tobias Menzies) are floundering professionally but striving personally. Beth struggles to write her second novel after her debut memoir was well-reviewed but under-appreciated. Don is failing to pay attention at work, causing him to doubt his skills as a therapist. Clearly, they are still passionately in love with each other, sharing food and supporting each other with their passions.

Beth’s first novel detailed the emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. Whilst it got her foot in the publishing door, she can’t help but wish it was as well-read as some of the work of her peers. She darkly wishes she could have suffered more than just emotional abuse; then, it may have sold more. Her agent confesses she’s unsure if her sophomore attempt has commercial viability, and none of her students know she…