“I only use speed when I’m tryin’ to dodge people.”

Gwen Harbinger (Molly Bernard), a solitary artist in her 30s, runs through Central Park each day to escape a past she hasn’t fully faced. She meets Hilary (Amanda Dickson), a scrappy young woman who mirrors her younger self, and Zephyr (Lucas George Nieves), a soulful but lost musician. In a moment of longing, Gwen invites them to stay in her luxury apartment. As they help her finally turn a profit on her artwork, Gwen is thrust into unfamiliar territory: visibility, intimacy, and potential success. But as her fears resurface, Gwen begins to lose her grip on the delicate balance she’s built.

With A Nice Lady, produced by Pesticups Films, Jessie Weber Kass offers a nuanced portrait of memory, control, and the risk of truly being seen by others.

Breaking the Balance

Modern humans are constantly in search of balance. Psychological balance, emotional balance, or simply a balance in life habits are often at the heart of our concerns. In A Nice Lady, this theme is approached subtly at first, not emphasizing this search, but rather giving us clues that the balance in which Gwen lives is fragile. The director uses various means to show that the character is struggling. At times, long, heavy breaths take over the sound, as one feels during a great effort or a moment of intense stress. At other times, close-ups are used to convey an emotion, a feeling of insecurity.

This way of playing with image and sound to show and break the fragile balance is used intelligently to prevent these changes from becoming a distraction. On the contrary, they lead the viewer to feel the emotional difficulties Gwen is experiencing. The question that runs through the viewer’s mind from beginning to end is whether the main character will manage to protect her mental balance or if she will lose the fight—a fight that seems to be the most important one that men and women face in our time. And yet, few directors tackle this theme as effectively.

Women in the Foreground

Another strong point of the film is the role given to women both in front of and behind the camera. In fact, “given” isn’t the right word, as these women are there not out of sympathy, but for their talent. With a script that rings true and a direction that blends realism with poetry, Jessie Weber Kass gives her actresses everything they need to shine. And they respond with solid performances. Playing a character for whom you must convey messages and emotions through non-verbal cues is always a great challenge—a challenge that Molly Bernard meets with just enough subtlety to make the character realistic without being incomprehensible. Not forgetting the production team composed of Julie Deffet, Rachel Barclay and Noah Kass.

Even more important is the strong presence of women in the film’s production, without it seeming to be of real importance. Let me explain. If you don’t look at the end credits, you wouldn’t know that the team is mainly composed of women. In other words, the number of women participating in the film isn’t an excuse to make a militant work, but simply the choice of the right people for the right roles. This suggests it might be time for Americans to accept that women and men are equally talented in the film industry.

As cinephiles, we want more works like A Nice Lady, which explore the emotional residue we carry through time and how identity is shaped not by grand events but by subtle and meaningful encounters. And we want the opportunity to see a first feature film from Jessie Weber Kass.

Trailer