Movie Review: 'Disfluency'

Disfluency

Directed by Anna Baumgarten

Written by Anna Baumgarten

Starring Libe Barer, Ariela Barer, Chelsea Alden

Released January 10th, 2025

Published January 9th, 2025

Disfluency stars Libe Barer as Jane, or Jane the Brain, or Blue Jay, depending on which family member or friend who is speaking to her. Jane has a loving and supportive group of friends and family, all of whom are worried about her. After having spent her life as an overachiever with well built goals and accomplishments, Jane failed her final university exam, causing her to wash out. Returning home for the summer, she’s here to lick her wounds and dodge the questions of her parents as to how it happened that she bombed in the one class that she needed to graduate.

You may already be guessing what might have caused a bright young woman to suddenly lose everything, tripping over the final hurdle. It’s probably exactly what you think and yet, Disfluency comes at this revelation from a unique perspective. Jane is fighting to keep her secret while giving off every indication of her growing depression stemming from the traumatic incident that sent her spiraling toward that class failure. The film captures the complicated, roiling, and chaotic emotional conflicts that come with such trauma.

Meanwhile, as Jane desperately tries to convince the world that nothing is wrong, she hangs out with her sister, Lacey (Ariella Barer) and their childhood friends who have mostly stayed behind in their hometown. Among the friend group is Jordan (Dylan Arnold), Jane’s longtime crush, and Kennedy and her boyfriend, Dylan (Kimiko Singer and Travis Tope). On the periphery, at first, is Amber (Chelsea Alden), a new mom whose baby daddy has split and whose baby may or may not be demonstrating developmental delays.

Being among her friends inspires Jane to start a new language study, one that might get her the graduation credit she needs before the summer is over. And, via Amber, Jane finds a purpose in helping Amber come to terms with her baby’s condition and helping Amber communicate and bond with her baby. Through that connection, Jane will develop the strength to find a way forward but I will leave you to discover that for yourself. Disfluency is an emotional and deeply fraught drama that catches you off guard with its depth, compassion, and complex, multifaceted approach to dealing with a traumatic event.

Disfluency was written and directed by Anna Baumgarten who demonstrates patience and smarts as she allows her story to unfold at an appropriate pace. It’s clear that this material matters to Baumgarten and her direction is unintrusive, insightful, and captures the emotional struggle at the heart of the movie with compassion and a minimal amount of flair. It’s a well crafted piece of direction that is never showy, settling for getting the basics right so as not to step on the storytelling.

There is a lovely simplicity in the notion of a person who is studying language and communication being unable to communicate following a trauma. Jane working on a language study among the group of friends she finds herself unable to communicate with could be a bit on the nose but it's handled well by star Libe Barer who embodies the conflict remarkably well. The reveal of what really happened to Jane comes in a beautifully acted scene via sign language that genuinely had me choked up.

TW: Disfluency is a film that won’t be easy for all audiences. The central trauma of the film surrounds sexual assault. It’s much more complicated than that in how the film approaches sexual assault, but regardless, if you are someone who for whom the topic of sexual assault is a topic that you want to avoid, Disfluency may be a difficult movie for you to watch. The film is remarkably sensitive and caring about the issue but it also approaches the topic from what some may see as a controversial perspective. I am not going to spoil it, I do think Disfluency is quite good and worthy of being seen.

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