SIFF Dispatch #6: Post-Millennial Mockumentary Meets ‘70s Surrealism in Lady

LADY 

(Samuel Abrahams, UK, 2026, 87 minutes) 

There's nothing quite like the loneliness of the super-rich. 

Instead of opening themselves up to real, human connections, they believe that if they just keep throwing money at the problem--any problem--it will go away. 

That sort of thinking applies to Lady Isabella (Sian Clifford, Fleabag, The Ballad of Wallis Island), mistress of Ravenhyde Hall, who has fashioned herself as a philanthropist, patron of the arts, and friend to the ravens, especially her passerine pal, Ricky (the film was shot on location at Suffolk's Somerleyton Hall, one of The Crown's luxurious royal settings). 

Laurie Kynaston's Sam, a BAFTA-nominated director–much like Samuel Abrahams--meets up with Izzie for the purposes of a profile. She claims that Netflix initiated the project, but she's cagey about the details. She's cagey about a lot of things, and even her housekeeper, Becky (Juliet Cowan), the only other person in the 26-room mansion, seems skittish around her. 

Left: Sian Clifford with creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag

Granted, Sam isn't quite as stable as he appears, but Izzie isn't just a lonely narcissistic lush. There's something weird going on with her body, and she would prefer not to talk about it. At first, Netflix isn't interested when Sam reaches out, but the weirdness captures their attention, and the project becomes official. 

Sam dedicates himself to solving the mystery. It isn't just about Izzie's ego, but his own, since he believes the profile could put his name on the map--it's possible Abrahams felt the exact same way about his directorial debut.  

In the process, the quasi-fictional Sam gets more than he bargained for, since Izzie, whose husband has been working abroad, isn't just looking for someone to validate her existence, but an artistic collaborator--and possibly a lover, too. Loopy as she is, she's more forceful than the passive Sam, who proves powerless to resist her entreaties, professional ethics be damned. 

Abrahams made Lady in the style of The Office–both versions–in which characters speak to the camera, though we never see the crew, just Samuel, Izzie, and Becky. The director also appears to have taken cues from Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard and the Maysles Brothers' Grey Gardens, since Izzie has Little Edie-like delusions of grandeur yet there's real tragedy underpinning her eccentricities, though Sam has more in common with William Holden in the former than Big Edie in the latter.

For most of its running time, the plot mechanics feel scripted, while the dialogue feels improvised (Abrahams wrote the film with his partner, Miranda Campbell Bowling). Sian Clifford fully commits to the intentionally varied tones, and she's very good, though Lady never quite worked for me as a comedy. I found it best, or most interesting, when Abrahams leaned into surrealism. It's also quite beautifully shot by Korsshan Schlauer in the style of weirdo European manor films, like Louis Malle's 1975 Black Moon. 

Granted, Abrahams ultimately sympathizes--and wants you to sympathize, too--with the loneliness of this one particular super-rich person who isn't quite as shallow as she seems, though she isn't all that deep or talented either. In the hands--mild spoiler!--of a performer other than the go-for-broke Sian Clifford, it might not have worked, not least since Sam can grow tiresome, but it does. 

Clifford is the kind of supporting actress who has long deserved a starring role, which Samuel Abrahams has given her, and Lady's shift from familiar mockumentary beats to something darker and stranger elevates both character and film. I hope it leads to more starring roles in her future.

Lady plays Sat, May 16, 3:30pm and Sun, May 17, 11:30am at the Uptown. Director Samuel Abrahams scheduled to attend the May 16 screening.  

Click here for Dispatch #1, here for #2, here for #3, here for #4, and here for #5. Images from MetFilm Studio / Loud and Clear Reviews (Sian Clifford and Laurie Kynaston), BBC (Clifford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag), The Guardian (Clifford as seen by Samuel Abrahams), and screen shot from the film of one of the bizarre, unexplained interstitials between sequences.