Shiva Baby
Shiva Baby is a 2020 American comedy film written and directed by Emma Seligman, in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Rachel Sennott as Danielle, a directionless young bisexual Jewish woman who attends a Shiva with her parents, Joel and Debbie. Other attendees include her successful ex-girlfriend Maya and her sugar daddy Max, his wife Kim, and their screaming baby. It also features Jackie Hoffman, Deborah Offner, Rita Gardner, and Sondra James in supporting roles.
Adapted from Seligman's own 2018 short film of the same name, Shiva Baby premiered online at the 2020 South by Southwest film festival, while its first public screenings were at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was released in theaters and on video on demand in the United States on April 2, 2021, by Utopia. The events of the film take place almost entirely in real time and at one location as Danielle explores her romantic and career prospects under the intense watch of her family, friends, and judgmental neighbors.
Shiva Baby received positive reviews from critics, who praised Seligman's screenplay and direction, cast performances, musical score, representation of bisexuality and Jewish culture, and for effectively conveying anxiety-inducing claustrophobia. The film would go on to win several awards.
Plot
College senior Danielle and her sugar daddy Max have sex before she hurries to a observance with her parents, Joel and Debbie. Before the, at her aunt Sheila's house, Danielle is schooled by her mother on how to respond to questions about her disorganized life and reveals that Dani's ex-girlfriend Maya will be there. Within the house, members of the local extended Jewish community compare her to Maya, who is adored by the neighbors and heading to law school. She has trouble eating the food there and goes from piling it on her plate to scraping it off.Max, who is a former colleague of Joel's, arrives, and Debbie insists on introducing him to Danielle in the hopes that one of Max's relatives will hire her. After the conversation, Debbie warns Dani that he's off limits because Max is married to a non-Jewish woman named Kim. Because of their baby-sitter's last minute cancellation, Kim arrives late to the party with their baby Rose.
Dani accidentally hurts her leg and retreats to the bathroom to clean it, where she takes a topless photo and sends it to Max. However downstairs, she is unable to look away from Max and his family, and offers to clean vomit from an adjacent room in order to escape. Maya comes to help and begins flirting with Dani, who rebukes her advances. Debbie pulls her away and reprimands her for flirting with Maya.
Debbie drags Dani to meet Kim and asks her for a job on Dani's behalf. During the conversation, it is revealed that Dani has been getting deposits once a month and telling her parents it is from baby-sitting. It is also revealed that Kim is the breadwinner of the family and therefore unknowingly funding Max's arrangement with Danielle. Kim grows suspicious when she notices Danielle wearing the same expensive bracelet that Max had given to her. Max suddenly receives all the photos that Dani sent, and ends up dropping his phone, then spilling coffee on Danielle. Her mom takes her to wash off and calm her nerves.
Maya later finds her at the food table, but Max interrupts the two; annoyed, Maya loudly reveals details of her and Danielle's past relationship, including when two went to prom together and were intimate together afterwards. Maya gets called away, and Max asks for reassurance that everything is "good" and Dani says yes. Later in the day, Max separates from his wife to go to the bathroom upstairs. Dani follows him into the bathroom and positions herself to fellate him, but he decides against it and leaves.
Upset, Danielle goes outside, finding Maya smoking by the side of the house. The two admit that they miss each other and passionately kiss. Dani finally can eat again, and goes to join Max and Kim, having a measured conversation in which she asks probing questions about Kim and Max's relationship and hints that Max uses the couple's vacant SoHo apartment as a bachelor pad. Elsewhere, Maya finds Danielle's phone in the bathroom and reads notifications from the sugar baby app. Dani realizes her phone is missing, and runs to Maya for help finding it, who is back downstairs by the food table. Angry, Maya taunts Danielle about her lifestyle and tells her that her phone is unlocked somewhere in the house, sending her into a panic so all she can focus on are people shoving food into their mouths.
The guests then gather to say, with Rose screaming until Kim takes her away. Max follows Danielle into the kitchen afterwards, where she replies that ending the relationship is good so that Kim won't lose all her money. Kim then appears and tells Max they should go home.
Kim approaches Dani to return her phone, and forces her to hold Rose, insisting she must be able to as a baby-sitter. Max arrives and tries to take the baby from Dani against Kim's demands, which knocks her back and causes a vase and some sacred books to the floor. Danielle attempts to clean up the mess but has a breakdown on the floor in front of the guests and is comforted by her mother and Maya. Debbie suggests they use helping an elderly attendee to her car as an excuse to leave, and Maya and Danielle reconnect as they carry food outside. Kim, Max, Maya, and Maya's mom are persuaded to ride home in Joel's now overpacked van, with Rose shrieking as Joel struggles to find his keys. Maya and Danielle affectionately hold hands in the back and smile at each other.
Cast
Production
Development and funding
Shiva Baby is an expansion of writer-director Emma Seligman's 2018 short film of the same title, which she had made as her thesis project while studying film at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. The title refers both to Danielle and to the baby brought to the shiva, Rose. Seligman said that she felt there was room to expand on the short from early on, but needed motivation from lead actress Rachel Sennott to start working on a feature; the feature film entered production just before the short premiered at the 2018 South by Southwest film festival. Despite the short being accepted to SXSW, giving Seligman confidence, nobody there was interested in making a low-budget feature. Seligman then approached Katie Schiller, who she said was "the best producer in ", at Sennott's encouragement. While developing the feature, Seligman re-watched Gia Coppola's film Palo Alto, saying that she had "never seen a film so accurately portray the suffocating and debilitating nature of young female insecurities" like it. Seligman was also inspired by Trey Edward Shults's Krisha and how its location was used for storytelling, which led to Seligman viewing Shiva Baby through a similar psychological thriller lens. Other inspiration came from the Coen brothers, Joey Soloway's Transparent, John Cassavetes, and Mike Nichols. The costume design of the film was based on outfits worn at shivas Seligman's family had attended.Seligman said that financing Shiva Baby was "probably the hardest thing" she and the producers would do; she sought funding for the feature for a year and received some offers from organizations that requested more creative control over the film in return, which she was unwilling to give. The production also faced setback when Seligman had to return to Canada after finishing the short when her visa expired. Filmmaker Amanda Kramer, a friend of Seligman, put her in contact with Rhianon Jones of Neon Heart Productions, who became an executive producer; more investors became interested with Jones attached. Most of the financing came from outside funding and independent funding from people the production team knew. Seligman told Women and Hollywood that using primarily one location was also a financial decision. Shiva Babys budget was around $200,000. Producer Kieran Altmann managed to secure some funding from his parents, Fiona and Martin Altmann, who are credited as executive producers. He said that the competitive filmmaking market in New York helped them work with a small budget, as they could negotiate large discounts on gear rental. The crew were also friends of the producers, and most took a cut in their usual rate, while editor Hanna Park was Seligman's roommate.
Themes
The short film had been based on a fictional scenario combining Seligman's "uncomfortable and funny" experience of shivas, and the community of women she knew who were sugar babies at NYU. When it came to expanding the story to a feature, she chose to also draw on her own bisexuality; the desire to showcase more of the character of Danielle and her sexuality is a reason Seligman chose to make the feature. Seligman said that "if no one watches this movie except for some young bisexual women who feel seen, then I feel like I've done my job". The character of Danielle is described as relatable; she is the film's "way in" and the other characters are all seen through her eyes. Seligman was also interested in exploring Max and Kim's relationship, and Debbie and Danielle's mother–daughter relationship further, and in expanding on the central theme of Danielle finding her self-worth through sexual autonomy but "realizing that's not as powerful as she thinks it is". Variety noted that themes of empowered young women were present in several screenplays in the same season; features editor Malina Saval wrote that Shiva Baby shows through Danielle how a "pressure to be perfect manifests itself in women long before marriage and kids come into focus" and explores how the power of sex is only limited.Karina Solórzano for the Los Cabos International Film Festival wrote that Shiva Baby has "the same elements as some of Woody Allen's most popular films – including the Jewish family and multiple lovers – but Seligman has her own vision and offers something different", and that it "follows the contrarian path promoted by Disobedience, this is not the central point of the plot; Seligman does not treat the protagonists as exceptional or disobedient". Solórzano also compared the themes of youth to those of Booksmart, and the tension to that of Uncut Gems, and discussed the relevance of other themes in Shiva Baby, including Danielle's insecurities; the cultural and religious conflicts surrounding Danielle's sexuality; complex female relationships; and the honesty that comes with family gatherings.