"And then sometimes I feel bad when I think about it, because...I remember moments of it, and I can feel in my body that it was really bad. But then sometimes I don't think about it, which is weird. And I feel guilty when I don't think about it."
— Agnes
Sorry, Baby is an American independent drama film written and directed by Eva Victor, who also stars in the lead role alongside Naomi Ackie, John Cancelmi, and Lucas Hedges.
Agnes Ward (Victor) is a witty and intelligent woman who undergoes a traumatic event while in graduate school at a small liberal arts college in New England. The film chronicles her life in the aftermath, supported by her best friend Lydie (Ackie) and a rescue cat named Olga.
It premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival ahead of a limited theatrical release by A24 in June and a wider release in July.
Tropes:
- Adult Child: Downplayed. Agnes is a competent professor and lives independently with no issues, but she does have some shades of immaturity, such as being thirtysomething yet unable to imagine herself as "old" or with regular adult responsibilities. The man at the sandwich shop points out that getting older will happen whether she envisions it or not. Lydie also seems worried that Agnes hasn't moved on with her life, as she's not only still living in the house they shared in grad school but working there as well, but Agnes persuades her that she's fine.
- Ambiguous Gender Identity:
- Agnes is referred to with she/her pronouns throughout the movie, but on the jury duty questionnaire, Agnes creates a third option to the question about the juror's gender. The implication is that Agnes may be non-binary, but hasn't had the time to think it over more completely.
- Lydie's love interest, Fran, is definitely non-binary and only referred to with they/them pronouns. All the same, Lydia enthusiastically identifies herself as gay.
- Anachronic Order: Agnes' time in grad school and the aftermath are book-ended by segments in the "present day".'
- Bathtub Bonding: Agnes and Gavin share a tender moment in the bath together.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Part of what makes the assault so affecting is that Decker initially presents himself as a genial and laid-back Cool Teacher who genuinely cares about his students and is one of the first people to recognize Agnes' true potential. In some aspects, he is that sort of person, but it still doesn't take away from the fact that he sexually assaulted a student who trusted him.
- Bittersweet Ending: Agnes still has to cope with the trauma of her assault and it'll never truly go away, but she's starting to move on with her life and tells Lydie's baby daughter her hopes that she can still lead a good life even in a world full of bad things.
- The Body Parts That Must Not Be Named: Agnes almost never refers to her sexual assault directly due to the trauma associated with it, instead preferring to call it a "very bad thing" most of the time.
- Casting Gag: A somewhat sad one. Eva Victor had previously played another bright young woman who gets subject to sexual harassment from a supervisor in Super Pumped, in which they played Susan Fowler, an Uber software engineer who was crucial in blowing the lid on the company's culture of sexual harassment towards women.
- Cool Teacher: Averted with Decker, but played straight with Agnes — she's the youngest professor the school has hired in decades and has a relaxed and casual attitude in the classroom, but scenes from her classroom show that she's a wonderful teacher with friendly students, and the other faculty had unanimously voted to hire her full-time.
- Cute Kitten: Agnes adopts an adorable kitten after she is assaulted, and raising the cat helps her recover.
- Door Focus: The camera watches Agnes enter the house, then holds there until she leaves.
- Dr. Jerk: The cold and insensitive doctor who performs her checkup after she reports her assault. Lydie is openly aghast at how he speaks to Agnes.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Agnes' hair is longer in the flashbacks to graduate school; it's a bob in the present.
- Foil: Decker, the picture of a young, handsome, easygoing, self-deprecating liberal arts Cool Teacher and semi-successful writer and intellectual, is also a predator who has sexually exploited multiple students under his supervision. The men Agnes meets in ensuing segments contrast with Decker and her initial hero worship of and attraction to him: the blue-collar father who selflessly helps her from a panic attack, a student who appears to be a Dumb Jock but who insightfully understands Lolita, and a bumbling neighbor who genuinely cares for her.
- A Friend in Need: Lydie goes to great lengths to support Agnes after the assault, being the first person Agnes turns to about it and later scheduling a doctor's appointment for her. She also fully admits that she'd burn down Decker's office for Agnes if she had to.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Natasha is transparently jealous of how Decker favors Agnes over her, and later Agnes' professional success compared to hers.
- Jury Duty: In the segment "The Year With the Question" Agnes is called up for jury duty and gets out of serving by admitting she cannot be impartial as a victim of sexual assault who did not want to send her rapist to jail.
- Karma Houdini: Decker sadly never faces any real consequences for what he did to Agnes. He abruptly leaves the university the day after he assaults her and goes to teach at another college in upstate New York, and by the time Agnes reports it, the university staff can't do anything about it since he's no longer under their employ. Agnes also doesn't turn him into the police since he has a child and she reasons that prison time won't do anything, as he'll still be the same person but in jail.
- Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: Agnes begins a sexual relationship with her neighbor Gavin. He's clearly interested in her beyond that.
- Nice Guy: Both Gavin, the neighbor she starts a relationship with, and Pete, the sandwich shop owner who talks her down from a panic attack.
- No Romantic Resolution: Agnes's relationship with Gavin is left open-ended, never confirming if she ended the relationship due to their differing goals, or if she did change her mind about her future as he'd wondered. His introduction around the time of Lydie's first visit indicates that he and Agnes are at least still friends, if not a couple.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Naomi Ackie makes no attempt to hide her natural English accent, even though Lydie is never implied to be anything other than American.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The assault is never shown onscreen and instead depicted through a simple Time-Passes Montage of the house from the time Agnes comes in to when she leaves. This means that most of the details are left to the imagination and the sheer length of time it encompasses (from late afternoon/sundown to the dead of night, meaning Agnes was there for hours) makes it all the more haunting.
- Panic Attack: After Natasha brusquely admits that she slept with Decker, this triggers a panic attack in Agnes, who had previously been assaulted by him. Unable to focus, she drives off the road and into the parking lot of a sandwich shop. The owner, Pete, helps her calm down (he knows how because his son also gets panic attacks) and gifts her a delicious sandwich afterwards.
- Rape as Drama: The entire movie is about Agnes recovering from being sexually assaulted by her professor.
- Rape Discretion Shot: When the assault actually happens, the camera holds outside the house and we don't see what happens.
- Shower of Angst: Agnes sits in the bath as she recounts the traumatic event to Lydie. She's later told by a doctor that this was mistake, since assault victims should be examined immediately afterwards while physical evidence is still fresh.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Decker only appears for a relatively short amount of time, but he casts a painful shadow over Agnes for years after the assault, and the consequences of the rape are present in every segment.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Lydie teasingly notes that there's chemistry between Agnes and their mutual thesis adviser Preston Decker. Later Played for Drama when Decker rapes Agnes. The revelation that he also slept with Agnes' fellow student Natasha makes it more sinister.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Decker isn't an insidious thug just waiting to rape someone in a back alley at night, but rather a completely normal, seemingly well-adjusted Cool Teacher whom Agnes looks up to, which is sadly Truth in Television.
- Twofer Token Minority: Lydie is a black lesbian.
- With Friends Like These...: Natasha admits to Agnes's face that she doesn't like her, and spent their entire grad school career being bitter and petty towards her. Despite this, Agnes and Lydie still agree to attend a reunion dinner at her house, even though they admit she's unpleasant.