Review of Appropriate Behavior (2015) by Byron B — 18 May 2015

This is in the same class of film as Jenny Slate's Obvious Child. Both are very funny and deal with relationship woes. Shirin played by writer/director Desiree Akhavan is trying to define her identity.

She has spent her life moving further and further away from the expectations of her Persian family. She struggles, but makes the best of a new daycare teaching job, and yet it is not a career that defines her either.

She claims to be bi-sexual, but is devastated when she loses a long-term girlfriend. She fumbles trying to get involved in a three-way, which is where the poster image comes from, when she ignores the husband and gives all her attention to the wife.

Sadly, it is as if she is claiming the bi-sexual label just to hold on to some remnant of what her family would deem appropriate behavior instead of embracing her true and frightening feelings for her girlfriend Maxine (Henderson).

In flashbacks we see their relationship develop, though jealousy and fear of total commitment break them apart. As the plot jumps around in time Shirin must weigh if she should get back together with Maxine or move on with her life whether her family will approve or not.