“Not without flaws, but interesting, funny and rather engaging.”
SPOILER FREE Whilst knowing very little about the film before I went to see it, I was immediately thrown back when introduced to the lead protagonist – Shirin (Desiree Akhavan) is a young woman struggling to come to terms with all of her identities. From growing up in a strict Islamic background; she often uses to humour to enlighten even the darkest of situations. The film examines her and all of her relationships to a degree of great interest.
After coming to terms that Shirin is in fact bisexual; she then starts a relationship with girl Maxine – whilst at the same time hiding it from her parents. As the film starts with their relationship ending; it then proceeds to bounce back and forth between the past and the present. It was sometimes difficult for me to establish exactly where we were when each scene began, but I soon realised that it didn’t really matter. As Shirin discovered more and more about herself, I also realised that it didn’t completely matter where in her timeline we were. The film is completely focused on her and the best thing about that is; is that she is a very likeable character. It’s clear from the get-go that she has both masculine and feminine traits; neither of which her parents really claim to acknowledge. Throughout all of the jokes that Shirin tells to lessen the effect of serious situations – the film is rather tragic when we get closer to her and her parents. It’s evident that she is really struggling to have any kind of relationship with them at all because of the barriers of their religion. The film in no way disgraces Islam – but allows an interesting insight into perhaps how a daughter of faith would be coming to terms with her sexuality.
It’s definitely engaging, and funny along the way. What really works about ‘Appropriate Behaviour’ is that we spend time in one girl’s presence all the way through the film; and we want to! She’s a very likeable and interesting character that we actually just want to see more of. On the downside; I wasn’t completely convinced by all of her sexual exploits, one involving a threesome; and whether they were all realistic. I thought the film was enjoyable – but perhaps more room for improvement there. It’s not without any flaws, but all in all; rather engaging, funny – all told with strong performances.
★★★
Hudson-Cook 