Fantasy Life
A mental health pseudo-romcom? Yes. Filmmaker Matthew Shear’s Fantasy Life follows Sam, an anxiety-ridden law-school dropout who becomes a babysitter for his psychiatrist’s granddaughters and falls for their mother. Struggling to keep his life together through panic attacks, therapy sessions, and OCD tendencies, Sam finds himself thrown to the wolves in a wealthy Manhattan household of three young girls and their rather emotionally estranged parents. 
Sam finds musician David’s absence a subconscious excuse for connecting with the beautiful but aloof Dianne. As the months roll on, Dianne is working out her midlife crisis shit with Sam as her newfound bestie. Crashing out, and rightfully so, over aging, a waning acting career, and deepening depression. Sam, managing the eclectic needs of the three girls, a seemingly narcissistic husband, and his own feelings of inadequacy, must navigate new feelings and old fears.
Something that really stood out to me from an acting and writing standpoint in Fantasy Life warrants a mention. Eating scenes are actually quite rare in film. I don’t mean sitting at a table doing dialogue, I mean actually consuming food as the actors speak. It’s one of the most natural actions in our everyday lives, but we don’t often get treated to genuine relationship-building when actors have their mouths full of food. That simple and very specific choice by Shear has such an impact. It solidifies an immediate intimacy between Sam and Dianne. Bravo.
Judd Hirsh, Andrea Martin, Bob Balaban, and Jessica Harper are perfectly cast as David and Dianne’s parents, respectively. Alessandro Nivola delivers a complex turn as David, with the depth of the character slowly revealing itself in a character whose surface appears superficially loathsome.
For all the reasons, Shear and Peet have the most electric chemistry. They share a beautiful, “will they, won’t they” energy, far beyond the trope itself. It’s so very easy.
Amanda Peet is dazzling in her vulnerability and natural comic timing. As an almost 46-year-old woman *she chokes on the words, even in print* there is something so magical and sad about this character. Dianne’s grip on reality is one of the most honest representations of middle-aged, white female privilege, and both Shear and Peet fully understood the assignment.
Sam is effortlessly charming in his awkwardness. You know him. Especially if you were raised in Connecticut and moved to New York. Matthew Shear‘s tangible performance steals each beat, only matched by Peet’s elegant presence.
This is a film about relatability and human connection through the darkest of feelings. Fantasy Life viscerally evokes buried emotions. Funny, heartwrenching, and raw, it’s a must-watch, thought-provoking journey.
Fantasy Life Trailer:
In Fantasy Life, an anxious law school dropout (Matthew Shear) stumbles into a job babysitting his psychiatrist’s three granddaughters and falls for the girls’ mother (Amanda Peet), an actress in a rocky marriage. A smart, New York-set romantic comedy co-starring Alessandro Nivola, Judd Hirsch, Bob Balaban, Andrea Martin, Zosia Mamet, and Holland Taylor. Winner of the SXSW Narrative Feature Audience Award. Opens in New York March 27. In Theaters Nationwide April 3.
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