Spoiler Warning: There are some major spoilers for Sorry, Baby below. If you’ve yet to watch the new A24 movie, please exercise caution.
Though Sorry, Baby is technically a dark comedy, Eva Victor’s directorial debut is one of the most dramatic and emotionally taxing experiences I’ve had from the 2025 movie schedule. This quaint, charming, and oftentimes oddly funny drama about a college professor trying to make sense of the world and her place in it after being sexually assaulted had me bouncing between tears, feeling numb, and laughing while watching it with my HBO Max subscription.
That said, there’s one sweet scene near the end of Sorry, Baby (which is early on in the story due to the film’s non-linear narrative) that was so sweet and touching, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. Let me explain…
Though Oddly Funny, Sorry, Baby Was Incredibly Emotional
At the core of Sorry, Baby is a story about Agnes (Eva Victor), a young literature professor at a New England university, as she tries to come to terms with and make sense of a sexual assault by her mentor as a grad student. The act itself isn’t shown (the camera just focuses on the exterior of the house for a few minutes), but the impact, both immediate and over time, is explored in great detail.
Eva Victor approaches the subject matter with a delicate touch that finds a way to inject a charming albeit awkward sense of humor. It never detracts from the severity of the trauma, but Victor’s sense of humor does bring forth some much-needed levity. However, I kept reminding myself that while there are jokes and some awkward situations throughout the movie, this is an incredibly emotional and gut-wrenching story about assault, the misplacing of trust, and the strange things depression makes us do as we attempt to cope with trauma.
But I Can’t Stop Thinking About Agnes’ Interaction With Pete
Throughout the movie, I kept waiting for Agnes to have a big breakdown. That moment comes when an envious colleague reveals that she slept with Agnes’ attacker when they were still grad students, bringing on a massive panic attack. What follows is one of the most intense and emotional scenes of the movie, and then the sweetest, most reassuring, and comforting stretch of the story.
I’m not going to lie, watching Pete (John Carroll Lynch), a sandwich shop owner who witnesses Agnes having a panic attack, calm her down by using a breathing technique that helped his son with asthma, was one of the most touching things I’ve seen all year. It doesn’t stop there, as Pete makes Agnes a sandwich and asks her about her life, giving her some great parenting advice in the process.
Outside of her conversations with her best friend, Lydie (Naomi Ackie), this is the only time in the movie that someone attempts to comfort the distressed professor and let her know that everything is going to be okay. The kindness of this stranger is just something else.
Sorry, Baby, which is one of the best A24 movies in some time, is an experience I won’t soon forget, thanks in part to this wonderful moment showing the kindness of a stranger.
Stream Sorry, Baby on HBO Max.