Physical (2021)
Sheila Rubin is a quietly tormented housewife in ’80s San Diego. Behind closed doors, she battles extreme personal demons and a vicious inner voice. But things change when she discovers aerobics, sparking a journey toward empowerment and success.
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What critics compared Physical to
Linda bears plenty of similarities to another character that Byrne recently played: Physical’s Sheila Rubin, a bulimic mother with a daughter that she, too, is constantly tasked with “watching.”
It’s almost impossible to watch this film as a fan of Byrne’s without thinking back to her most recent TV role in the Apple TV+ series Physical. The camera spent so much time close up on her face throughout that series, and it once again occupies the majority of the frame for most of this movie. The result is different, however, since Linda is not nearly as expressive, and when she is, it’s usually to channel anger at whoever might be in her orbit (most of them do deserve it). And while Linda doesn’t have an unhealthy relationship with food like Sheila did on Physical, she does stuff an entire slice of cheeseless pizza in her mouth at the beginning of the film, indicating a resigned mentality to the fact that she doesn’t have any control over her life.
…we’ve seen Rose Byrne portray a struggling mother battling body image demons in 1980s-set series Physical.
Byrne has long mastered the art of self-loathing and performative pleasantries (see her Apple TV+ series Physical for a masterclass), but she’s operating on another level here.
Not even one Emmy nominations in the three seasons of PHYSICAL on Apple TV +.