Last year, during the Glasgow Film Festival, THN reviewed Karen Knox’s Adult Adoption. The film saw a young woman who grew up in the foster care system seek out fellow lonely adults to create a family for herself. The idea was inspired by true life. Family units are no longer as sturdy as they once were historically, and so people are turning to adult adoption as a way to connect and form their own clans. Whilst Knox’s film was a somewhat angst-driven story about finding oneself, the latest film to tackle the subject, Adopting Audrey, is a very different affair.
Written and directed by Michael Cahill, Adopting Audrey stars Jena Malone as the titular Audrey, a young woman adrift from the world around her. She lives a rather nomadic lifestyle, moving from city to city, relying on only herself to survive. It’s a lonely existence, and after being dumped by her casual hook-up and being let-go from her job, she is in dire need of help and attention. Spending her days avoiding her landlord, and her nights sat in her dark apartment watching animal videos on YouTube, she desperately needs something new in her life. Then one night she sees an advert for adult adoption and joins up. During the process she meets a married couple, Sunny (Emily Kuroda) and Otto (Robert Hunger-Bühler), and an unlikely courtship begins…
Whereas Adult Adoption’s lead character has grown up without a family, Audrey does have one. Early on, Audrey spends time making herself up to give her mother a special video call on Mother’s Day. The call is met with disdain and derision on the other end, which leads to Audrey’s disappointment. This is a scenario that is familiar; families, especially in the modern world where everyone is spread all over, are easily estranged. A reason never outwardly given (at least not initially) to why Audrey is seeking a new family dynamic, but it’s one that is easy to relate to. Similarly, it’s easy to understand how Sunny and Otto entered into the arrangement; Sunny has no children of her own, and Otto does not see either his son or daughter regularly. A workaholic now retired, Otto spent what could have been golden years with his children, busy in the office. The scars from these wounds are still fresh for his children and in Audrey there exists a chance to change.
As Adopting Audrey progresses, the character of Sunny falls to the side, opening the screen-time up to exploring the relationship between Audrey and Otto. The quiet, nomadic drifter, and the loud meticulous German make an interesting on-screen odd couple. Both Malone and Hunger-Bühler infuse their counterparts with a great deal of naturalism. Their nuanced and realistic portrayals breathe life into Cahill’s fairly loose script. Adopting Audrey is not a story concerned with having a defined three act structure, instead it organically flows, mirroring the abstraction of life itself. The airy nature of the construction may grate for some, but on the whole the idea works, and lets the intriguing characters stand for themselves. Neither Audrey nor Otto needs a side-quest to undertake or a life-shattering revelation to keep them engaging as the performances and their quirks keep the viewer fascinated.
Ultimately a film that explores the concept of human connection, Cahill spends time subtly identifying issues around technology. Or more precisely, the human bond to mobile phones. Audrey’s phone is always close by with battery power. Then after Audrey’s electricity gets cut off, the rest of the film is punctuated by Audrey seeking charging points wherever she can. Audrey needs this as she uses her phone for comfort. As technology for mobile phones has advanced, so too has our relationship with them and in Audrey, Cahill highlights this change. In addition to using the phone as a friendly voice, Audrey also relies on it to tell her how to do things. A grifter by nature, at several moments Audrey is seen getting a temporary job in an area that, prior to a YouTube tutorial, she had no knowledge of. Cahill’s observation is subtle but effective in getting the viewer to assess their own relationship with their phone.
Adopting Audrey is a project that, like many independent films, has been years in the making. Cahill originally had the idea in 2015, production began in 2019, and now in 2023 it is finally being released. The fruits of the labour of all those years have produced a story that is mature and refined. Assisted by a stripped back performance by Malone, Adopting Audrey presents an absorbing and affectionate look at families found and connections forged.
Adopting Audrey was reviewed at Glasgow Film Festival 2023. Adopting Audrey is released on Digital HD on 13th March 2023.
Adopting Audrey
Summary
Michael Cahill’s vision for Adopting Audrey, a thoughtful examination of the new trend of adult adoption, is made whole thanks to an honest and laid-back performance from Jena Malone.
