Shiva Baby 2021 Movie Review

『A Portrait of Youth Shaken by Complex Identity and the Gaze of Family』

🎥 Movie Overview

🎬 Title: Shiva Baby (2021)
🌍 Country: 🇺🇸 USA
🎞️ Genre: Drama / Black Comedy / Coming-of-Age
🗓️ Production & Release: Weak Sauce Films, 2021, Feature Film
⏳ Runtime: 77 minutes
📢 Director: Emma Seligman
🖋️ Screenplay: Emma Seligman, Rachel Sennott
📺 Platform: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, etc.

👩‍💼 Cast: Rachel Sennott – Danielle
Molly Gordon – Maya

🧩 Deep Dive into the Story (Spoilers)

🕯️ Anxiety and Identity Trapped in One Space

Shiva Baby has often been described as a “77-minute post-funeral nightmare,” a film that compresses extreme anxiety and social dread into a claustrophobic chamber piece. It portrays the millennial identity crisis, overbearing family expectations, and sexual autonomy through a unique blend of black comedy and psychological thriller.

⚡ The Stage of Catastrophic Collision: “Shiva”

The story follows Danielle, a college student on the verge of graduation, who attends a post-funeral Shiva (a Jewish mourning gathering) with her family. The entire film unfolds over the course of that single suffocating afternoon.

Before arriving at the Shiva, Danielle meets with her Sugar Daddy, Max — a relationship that provides her with both financial stability and a distorted sense of sexual independence. To her parents, she pretends she’s doing odd jobs. At the Shiva, however, she must perform the role of a “good, respectable Jewish daughter,” wearing a mask of propriety that grows heavier by the minute.

The suffocating atmosphere quickly escalates into a social disaster.

1. Her ex-girlfriend, Maya, appears. Intelligent, confident, and successful, Maya embodies everything Danielle is not. To make things worse, the family dismisses their past as a “phase,” erasing Danielle’s bisexuality entirely.
2. Sugar Daddy Max unexpectedly shows up — with his wife, Kim, and their baby.

Thus, the three worlds Danielle has kept separate — family, ex-lover, and secret life — collide in one small house, generating unbearable tension.

🦋 Emotional Resonance and Thematic Meaning

🎥 Direction and Form: Amplifying Anxiety with Thriller Techniques

Director Emma Seligman transforms a limited setting — one house, one afternoon, 77 minutes — into a stage for social horror. The film unfolds almost in real time, evoking the relentless tension of a theatrical performance.

• Claustrophobia: Narrow hallways, crowded rooms, and suffocatingly close bodies make the Shiva house feel like a trap. The use of tight camera framing and intrusive close-ups mirrors Danielle’s psychological suffocation, forcing viewers to share her anxiety.

• Thriller-Like Music: The score, inspired by Klezmer (Jewish folk music), replaces traditional funeral solemnity with piercing, discordant strings that resemble horror film cues. This soundscape transforms Danielle’s internal panic into something visceral and auditory.

• Chains of Microaggressions: The film’s tension doesn’t arise from dramatic events but from subtle, relentless social jabs. “You’ve lost weight,” “What’s your major?”, “Any plans after graduation?”, “Do you have a boyfriend?” — each casual remark chips away at Danielle’s self-worth. Rachel Sennott delivers a masterful performance, embodying the awkward, suffocating panic of social anxiety in every twitch and glance.

🎭 Mirrors of Identity: The Contrast Between ‘Success’ and ‘Stagnation’

Maya represents the idealized version of what Danielle’s community expects — someone on the “right path.”

• The Standard of Success: Maya is about to enter a top law school, embodying the kind of stability and ambition that Danielle lacks. The endless questions from older relatives about Danielle’s post-graduation plans sting even more in Maya’s presence, making her a living reminder of social pressure and inferiority.

• Resurfacing Bisexuality: Danielle’s family dismisses her past with Maya as a “college experiment,” effectively erasing her bisexual identity. Maya’s presence forces Danielle to confront the part of herself she’s been suppressing. Every glance and coded exchange between them vibrates with the fear of being found out.

🌀 Intimacy Within Hostility: The Contrast with Max

The contrast between Danielle’s relationships with Max and Maya reveals the difference between transactional and emotional intimacy.

• With Max: Their relationship is built on financial exchange. It gives Danielle a semblance of independence, but at the cost of authenticity. Max offers her a mask — confident, desirable — but the relationship cannot soothe her internal anxiety. It demands secrecy and deepens her isolation.

• With Maya: In contrast, Danielle’s past with Maya is full of unresolved emotional tension. Maya exposes Danielle’s vulnerabilities, her bisexuality, and her existential uncertainty. While Maya’s criticism stings, she is also the only person who truly sees Danielle. Theirs is a relationship of raw honesty — painful yet grounding. When Danielle’s double life teeters on exposure, it is Maya — not Max — who becomes her emotional anchor.

💦 Psychological Tug-of-War and Sexual Tension

The simmering sexual and emotional tension between Danielle and Maya is palpable throughout. Their polite exchanges are laced with sharp undertones — every word both defensive and revealing.

Maya challenges Danielle on whether her sugar baby lifestyle represents real agency or escapism, while simultaneously betraying her lingering attraction. Their dynamic unfolds like a verbal fencing match — fast, cutting, and intimate.

In a brief moment outside the Shiva house, their chemistry erupts once more, suggesting that Danielle’s emotional needs can’t be fulfilled through transactional arrangements alone. Maya embodies the authentic emotional connection Danielle craves beneath her layers of performance.

🌞 Sanctuary Amid Chaos

The film’s most striking moment comes at the end. In the cramped van leaving the Shiva, surrounded by Max’s crying baby and her mother’s chatter, Danielle finally exhales — resting her head on Maya’s shoulder.

This closing shot carries several layers of meaning:

1. Emotional Safe Haven: Maya is the only person who knows Danielle’s deepest pain — her one source of emotional stability and safety in a world that constantly demands performance.
2. Cycles of Connection: Their relationship isn’t over — merely paused. The scene hints that Danielle may inevitably return to Maya whenever reality becomes too overwhelming.
3. Self-Acceptance: Resting on Maya’s shoulder symbolizes Danielle’s tentative step toward accepting her queer identity and the chaotic, uncertain self she’s been avoiding.

Ultimately, Danielle and Maya’s relationship serves as the emotional engine of Shiva Baby, elevating it from dark comedy to a psychological study of anxiety and identity. They are each other’s greatest source of pain and comfort — a paradoxical bond that defines the film’s tension and tenderness alike.

💡 Jewish Culture and Universal Relatability

The film’s modern Jewish setting isn’t mere background. The tight-knit yet intrusive community, generational clashes, and maternal overprotection provide both humor and authenticity. The mother’s endless food offerings and comments about Danielle’s body reflect not only Jewish cultural quirks but also the universal experience of overprotective parenting — suffocating yet rooted in love.

Shiva Baby is an intense yet cathartic experience — uncomfortable, sweaty, and claustrophobic, yet liberating in its honesty. It reminds viewers that “we’re all anxious together”, capturing one of the sharpest and most truthful portraits of millennial unease in recent cinema.

🎯 Personal Rating

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★★☆