‘Appropriate Behavior’ tells familiar story of being lost

Shirin, the protagonist of Appropriate Behavior, never seems to quite figure out what it is she wants. Desiree Akhavan, who wrote and directed the film on top of starring as the eternally frustrated Shirin, plays a 20-something Iranian-American woman who is dealing with a bad breakup from her girlfriend and a traditional family that is not aware that she is bisexual.

The story in Appropriate Behavior is nothing new — the market is flooded with stories of lost millennials trying to figure out what to do with their lives. With shows like Girls and Broad City finding recent success, characters like these have become very familiar to audiences. Appropriate Behavior manages to find just enough originality to merit a watch, but much of it will feel very familiar.

Unsurprisingly, given her roles as writer and director, Akhavan’s character is the sole focus of the film. She is in every single scene, which allows for a very full picture of Shirin to emerge. The script might be very self-centered, but Akhavan does not attempt to justify or hide her character’s faults. Shirin’s irrational behavior and mistakes are out in the open, leading to an illuminating portrait of the complex character.

Shirin’s troubles mostly arise from her attempt to inhabit two very different worlds: her life as a young bisexual woman in Brooklyn and a strong connection to her traditional Persian family.

The Brooklyn portion of the film feels like very old hat. Make no mistake, it is well done. The direction is clean and direct, and the dialogue is, for the most part, very natural. Akhavan clearly has a love of one-liners, which for the most part make her characters come across as clever (though some of the lines fall flat). Shirin’s time in Brooklyn, though presented with a steady hand, is not exceptional. She meets Maxine, an intriguing woman played with a lot of nuance by Rebecca Henderson, falls in love with her, breaks up with her, then tries to get her back. It is tried and true.

One interesting device that Akhavan uses to give the tired story a spark is a non-chronological timeline. The story jumps back and forth from the beginning of Shirin’s relationship with Maxine to the end. A non-linear timeline is also nothing new, but it is a good choice in this instance. Offering the viewer a juxtaposition between two periods in Shirin’s life adds the element of time to the experience.

The other portion of the film, which focuses on Shirin’s dealings with her family, is what truly elevates the film over its retread of a main story. Though it occupies much less running time, this arc provides a lot more compelling content. Shirin’s troubles dealing with her family, whose values and priorities are very different from her own, have a sheen of truth to them, as Akhavan’s personal experiences obviously influenced the writing of those scenes. One particularly charming scene involves Shirin taking her father aside to criticize her brother while, unbeknownst to her, her brother is doing the same exact thing in the other room, criticizing her to her mother. The scene is played for laughs, but it packs a punch ,especially because it feels so real. Another poignant scene is when Shirin brings Maxine to a Persian New Year party under the pretense of being her “white friend.” The awkward interactions with her cousins and her parents have the look of moments taken directly from Akhavan’s memory. The balance in the film would have been upset if the ratio had been swung too far in the other direction, but it certainly looks like the film could have greatly benefited many more of these scenes.

Shirin’s parents and brother are all expertly cast. Her mother, played by Anh Duong, is a scene-stealer in her limited screen time. Her character is very fleshed-out and provides a powerful touch in one of the most important scenes of the film. The brother, played by Arian Moayed, does not pack the emotional punch that Duong’s character does, but Moayed plays his part well, especially in the aforementioned scene in which the siblings are complaining to their parents.

The real breakout star of the film, however, is Henderson. She portrays Maxine with a soft touch. The character has to go from hard and confrontational to emotionally vulnerable at the drop of a hat, and Henderson takes the curves like a pro. Acting next to her, Akhavan suffers. The understanding is that at least substantial parts of Shirin are drawn from Akhavan’s own life, so she definitely knows how to play this character. Akhavan’s mopey cavalcade of angst, however, gets old after a while, and she is ultimately upstaged by her more energetic castmates.

To write, direct and act in a film is a very ambitious undertaking, and though Akhvan created flashes of brilliance with Appropriate Behavior, the film stays firmly grounded in places the audience knows all too well.