Star and Shadow Presents... Appropriate Behaviour

Desiree Akhavan, 2014, 86 mins.

Desiree Akhavan’s brilliantly funny, sharply observed debut is a queer comedy about love, identity, family and the impossibility of behaving appropriately. Akhavan writes, directs and stars as Shirin, a bisexual Iranian American living in Brooklyn, navigating the messy aftermath of a breakup with her girlfriend while trying to keep her sexuality hidden from her traditional Persian family. Moving between awkward encounters, sexual escapades, family expectations and the chaos of starting again, Appropriate Behaviour is frank, funny and gloriously uncomfortable. It is a warm, irreverent and deeply human film about trying to work out who you are when everyone around you seems to have a different idea of who you should be.