NEW YORK – Anna Kendrick is picking up her story.
The Oscar-nominated actress is earning the best reviews of her career for “Alice, Darling” (exclusively in AMC theaters nationwide on Friday), playing a young woman trapped in an emotionally abusive relationship. Kendrick, 37, signed on to the project two years ago when she was coming out of a long-term relationship with a psychologically abusive ex.
Looking back on that experience, “it feels like something was stolen (from me),” says Kendrick. “Being trapped in this cycle of trying to improve (the relationship) and figuring out a way to fix it meant I was also sacrificing myself more and more.
“I was letting go of myself over and over again, and something was very lost for a long time. I’m still recovering.”
‘Alice, Darling’ depicts the emotional toll of an abusive relationship
The dramatic thriller follows Alice (Kendrick) as she goes on a weekend getaway with her two best friends, Sophie (Wunmi Mosaku) and Tess (Kaniehtiio Horn). Alice is visibly restless and tense throughout the trip, after lying to her controlling boyfriend, Simon (Charlie Carrick), about her whereabouts. Tess and Sophie sense that something is not right with their friend and try to help Alice recognize her abusive situation.
Alice had visible bruises in an earlier version of Alanna Francis’ script. But Kendrick, who also executive produced the film, felt it was important to show that not all abuse leaves physical marks. She imagined what it would be like to watch this movie if she was still in that toxic relationship.
“I really didn’t want to make a movie that said, ‘Oh well, it’s not as bad as this movie. Maybe I’m just dealing with normal, healthy conflict,'” says Kendrick. “It’s a bold thing to stick with just the main character’s experience, rather than feeding the audience, ‘Here’s the abuse you can point out.’ Just look at the (psychological) effect it’s having on a person and trust that it’s abusive.”
Instead, the film portrays the casually sinister ways that Simon messes with Alice’s head. He closely monitors where she goes and what she eats, and blames her for getting a drink with friends.
“These everyday things add a lot of layers to the most obvious moments of abusive behavior,” says Kendrick. When someone is angry or violent, “Sometimes it’s easier to think, ‘OK, this crossed a line and it’s not about me. It’s about you.’ And with those smaller moments that are so insidious, I feel like, ‘There’s a judgment and a superiority here. But if I say it, they’ll tell me I’m imagining it.’ ”
For Kendrick, accuracy was ‘crucial’ but sometimes challenging
Like Alice, Kendrick had good friends to lean on during his past relationship. But even then, she never painted the full picture.
“I kind of sprinkled all the gory details in conversations with different friends,” remembers Kendrick. “Because I knew if I told one person everything, that person would say, ‘Dude, run.’ ”
With the help of therapy, Kendrick was finally able to recognize the abuse for what it was. Though she keeps the details vague, a “big turning point” was when she found “black and white evidence” that her partner was manipulating her.
“I’ve had all the benefits of starting my recovery and it’s still really hard,” says Kendrick, holding back tears. “I really don’t know how people do it, just having to say, ‘Well, I don’t have any evidence, but I have to trust myself.’ It makes me want to cry.”
The film’s director, Mary Nighy, says she was very impressed with how “honest and emotionally available” Kendrick was during filming.
“I’m sure for some people it would have been really hard to revisit,” says Nighy. “She was very clear about wanting to provide a warning to others who may be experiencing emotional abuse, and so the film’s accuracy became crucial – even if it was difficult to explore at times.”
Abandoning her liveliness and trusting herself as an actress
In addition to the film’s personal resonance, Kendrick also saw “Alice, Darling” as a chance to move beyond the energetic and often musical characters she played in “Pitch Perfect” and “Trolls.” The film is light on dialogue, with long shots of Alice panicking over Simon’s messages and worried he might show up.
Sometimes on screen, “maybe I do a little too much,” admits Kendrick. “Because I think, ‘Well, I have to make it interesting because I don’t believe that I can just exist and be attractive, or that anyone would invest in this character unless I’m sweating it out to be charismatic.’ So, frankly, feeling a bit bored in the movie for periods of time made me quite uncomfortable. But it was kind of weird, this parallel of trusting that I am enough and that that would translate on screen.
Since the film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, Kendrick has been asked to relive past traumas in countless interviews like these. The experience so far has been mostly positive, she says.
“Making the film, being around people who have had similar experiences and being really open about it, I don’t find it exciting at all. It’s very warm and safe,” says Kendrick. “The only thing that feels gross is just being in an environment where (someone is) just a tiny bit dismissive. It’s nobody’s job to come in and find me where I am, but that’s why I’m trying to just make sure I’m just talking about this in a space and in a way that feels OK.”
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