Lucy (Jennifer Connelly), an actress who received recognition in a distant childhood, and now an embittered woman, endlessly attending retreats in order to achieve peace and enlightenment, trying to understand herself and heal childhood injuries, comes to the next retreat to the popular guru Elon Bello (Ben Whishaw). Not getting the proper result, the irritated Lucy arranges a scandal as a result of which she finds herself in the police station, and guru Bello goes on the run, thereby launching the healing mechanism for Lucy, as a result of which she realizes her mistake in raising her daughter (Alice Englert) and after many years finally finds a common language with her.
The director of the film Alice Englert, the daughter of the Oscar-winning New Zealand director Jane Campion ("Pianino", "Power of the Dog"), also played one of the main roles in her directorial debut - Dylan, the unloved and offended daughter of the main character, working as a stuntman on a film in New Zealand.
Critics agreed that “Bad Behavior” was not a very successful debut of Englert, who tried to fit several storylines into the film and too ardently pulled the blanket on herself wanting to reveal her acting talent, resulting in two indistinct independent films that could well be successful short films, which she skillfully combined through phone calls between mother and daughter and their ridiculous meeting in the last third of the film.
The heroine of Jennifer Connelly (“Requiem for a Dream”) fascinates with quite justified selfishness, permissiveness, independence and self-esteem, from which the blood in the veins of not only her daughter and lawyer, but also the viewer freezes. This is Connelly's first major role in a long time and feels her hunger for acting and a desire to express herself, which she undoubtedly succeeds in. Her sudden bouts of aggression and rudeness want to applaud, because this woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown so accurately expresses the thoughts and desires of many who, unfortunately or perhaps, nevertheless, fortunately, must restrain themselves while in society.
The appearance of a young model and influencer Beverly (Dash Nekrasov) at the retreat turns out to be a trigger for Lucy. She is so irritated by this smug girl, whom everyone treats with adoration and aspiration, that what happens between Lucy and Beverly at one of the many spiritual practices will make the viewer heated. The verbose hero of Ben Whishaw (“Perfume: The Story of One Killer”) is an impeccable caricature of self-proclaimed spiritual leaders and coaches, will not leave anyone indifferent.
Between the heroines of Connelly and Englert completely lacks chemistry, although their strained relationship is the main component of this story. The part of the film that tells about Lucy’s daughter is too long and seems inappropriate. The desire of the actress and director Englert to show her acrobatic abilities and bland acting is only annoying, the viewer learns little about her heroine from these shots. The film would not have suffered if the heroine, before her appearance in the finale of the film, existed not on the screen, but as a voice on the phone, as does her father and ex-husband Lucy.
The director has a hard time bringing the film to a conclusion – the difficult mother-daughter conversation they have avoided for so long, because it seems that neither of them is interested in reconciliation and finding common ground. The film is worth watching because of Jennifer Connelly’s vociferous return to the big screen and the absurdity of what one carelessly thrown word can bring to the point of destroying the relationship between two close people.