If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025)
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2025-09 to 2026-08
A struggling psychotherapist faces a mental breakdown while caring for her daughter with a feeding disorder.
The story
Linda is a psychotherapist caring for her clingy, anxious daughter, who has a pediatric feeding disorder that necessitates nightly use of a feeding tube. Linda also drives her daughter to and from a day hospital program daily. Linda's ship captain husband, Charles, is away from home for long period of time. After their Montauk apartment is flooded, Linda moves with the daughter to a shabby motel. Amidst the noise of the feeding pump and the isolation of her situation, Linda struggles to maintain her professional boundaries and personal sanity while dealing with demanding clients and a lack of support from her husband.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Linda, a psychotherapist, cares for her daughter who has a feeding disorder and requires a feeding tube. While her husband, Charles, is away at sea, their apartment floods, forcing them into a nearby motel. Linda becomes increasingly isolated and sleep-deprived. Her professional life suffers as she struggles with demanding clients and a lack of support from her husband, who is critical of her career. After a series of escalating incidents—including a neighbor's child being abandoned in her office and a local man, Jamie, getting injured in her apartment—Linda's mental state deteriorates. She faces a crisis at the hospital regarding her daughter's weight and is eventually abandoned by her own therapist. After a physical confrontation with a client, Linda removes her daughter's feeding tube and experiences a hallucination. She eventually finds her husband has returned and repaired the apartment. In a final moment of clarity, she flees to the beach with her daughter, where they are seen together for the first time, and she promises to be better.
- First release year
- 2025
- Runtime (minutes)
- 113
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Mary Bronstein
- Writers
- Mary Bronstein · writer
- Cast and characters
- Rose Byrne · a mother; Conan O'Brien; Danielle Macdonald; Christian Slater; ASAP Rocky
- Genres
- black comedy; psychological drama
- Themes
- maternal struggle; mental health; isolation; caregiving
- Tone and mood
- dark; raw; surreal
- Premise and plot tags
- psychotherapy; medical condition; mental breakdown
- Reception
- The film was received favorably by critics, with praise specifically for Rose Byrne's performance.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 78 · scale: 100 · review count: 40
- Awards and nominations
- Silver Bear · Best Leading Performance · win; Independent Spirit Award · Best Lead Performance · win; Golden Globe Award · Best Lead Performance · win; Critics' Choice Award · Actor Award · nomination; BAFTA Award · Best Actress · nomination; Academy Award · Best Actress · nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was shot over 27 days.; Mary Bronstein gave up her director's fee to obtain two additional shooting days.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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