By George & Josh Bate
Lucy Schulman, an endearing and funny new dramedy making its world premiere at this year’s Tribeca Festival, shows that coming-of-age stories aren’t restricted to children or adolescents and that being selfish not only isn’t necessarily a bad thing but may actually be essential to living a fulfilled, meaningful life.
From writer, director, and star Ellie Sachs, Lucy Schulman follows the titular character, a young woman living in New York City recovering from a recent breakup. As she moves back in with her loving dad (David Cross), Lucy navigates bad dates, her aspirations to become a book editor, spending time with her best friends, and a new man (Thomas Mann) she becomes entranced by.
The HoloFiles recently had the opportunity to speak with Lucy Schulman star and filmmaker Ellie Sachs about her new film, its approach to wholesome masculinity, playing a likable yet flawed protagonist, how distinctly New York her movie is, and more.
At the beginning of the film, Lucy quotes Barbara Streisand in saying that “people who need people are the luckiest people.” Sachs’ character takes this guidance to heart as she recovers from a devastating breakup by throwing herself head first into the life of her loving father and a new romance with a friendly young man.
“Lucy is a complicated and very flawed young lady,” Sachs described. “She has a lot of strange problems, but she’s also plucky, she’s resilient. She’s someone that we want to root for. And she’s got a lot of misplaced potential and things that she could be really good at. And she could be a great friend. She could be a great editor for books one day. She could be all of these things, but instead she’s choosing to put all of her energy into the men in her life, frankly.”
Between David Cross’ warm and unconditional loving father and Thomas Mann’s gentlemanly and sweet boyfriend figure, Lucy Schulman avoids portraying men as villainous caricatures. Lucy’s father, while wrestling with his own struggles, is far from the monstrous dad seen in many coming-of-age stories. Her new boyfriend, meanwhile, doesn’t engage in all the stereotypical disgusting behaviors young, disloyal men do in similar films.
Sachs discussed why she populated her film with more wholesome, well-intentioned male figures. “I know a lot of good guys and I think that we’re in this really fraught cultural moment where we certainly are in a masculinity crisis,” Sachs explained. “I think that it’s important to have men on screen that are also good, because we certainly get a lot of bad guys and there are lots of bad guys and there’s lots of bad women of course, but I just really felt drawn to telling a story where things were a little bit in the gray area and where the men are decent, good people, even though they all have their own flaws of course and things that they need to work through. They’re ultimately good guys.”
In one of the film’s most impactful scenes, Lucy faces admonishment from her best friend Eden, who finds issue with Lucy’s “boy crazy” tendencies. Eden poignantly tells Lucy, “You’re so desperate for people not to leave you, but the people who never would you push away.”
“She’s got, I think, a pretty heavy fear of abandonment,” Sachs stated. “And so in turn she really clings to people, but she’s clinging to the wrong people. Especially with her friend group, she’s got this wonderful friend Eden. She’s her best friend and Eden’s really cool. But Lucy at almost every turn in the movie is not a good friend to Eden. And there’s something really heartbreaking about that. The thinking around that line and that whole scene with Eden being like, ‘You’re just this barnacle. You’re attached to these people. And you don’t show up for the ones who really matter.’”
Sachs takes a risk with her feature directorial debut in positioning a flawed protagonist who makes all manner of poor decisions at the center of her story. “I was worried,” explained Sachs. “I was like, ‘I hope I can pull that off.’ I think that a big part of it is that I wanted Luy to be smart, like there’s things she’s really wise and intelligent about. But then there’s a whole host of things that she’s kind of a dummy at. So I think she is always acting sort of at the top of her intelligence like, ‘Well, I think I’m doing it right.’”
Sachs elaborated, “Her priorities are kind of wack and she just doesn’t know that….Why it’s fun to watch Lucy is there’s a little bit of that dramatic irony where like we’re all watching and we’re like, ‘Come on, girl. Get it together. Stop doing that.’”
While Sachs says, “Hopefully we all see a part of ourselves in her,” Lucy Schulman isn’t the deeply intimate, personal story that many filmmakers use as the basis for their first feature. “It’s not that personal,” said Sachs. “There’s certainly things I’ve pulled from my life, been inspired by, but I really am not very much like Lucy, especially when I watched the film back. There’s just a big difference between me and her as people.”
What is personal, however, is Lucy Schulman’s reverence for New York City, the location in which all of her trials and tribulations unfold in. “I love New York so much,” Sachs remarked. “I find it to be one of the most endlessly inspiring cities. It’s really like a living, breathing city. I think that it is also a mirror in many ways. If you are having an amazing day and something good just happened and then you step outside and, ‘Oh, the sun’s shining and I’m on the subway and everybody’s really nice,’ it reflects back to you what you give to it. But, in the same way, if you’re having a really shitty day, you go outside and are like, ‘Oh, the subway’s dirty. There’s too many people. It’s loud.’…We had a really good time having this city reflect how Lucy’s feeling.”
In addition to taking place in New York City, Lucy Schulman makes its world premiere in the Big Apple at this year’s Tribeca Festival. Sachs is no stranger to the festival having premiered her excellent short film Proof of Concept here a few years prior. Sachs expressed her enthusiasm for returning to Tribeca to debut her new movie. ““I’m so excited to be premiering at Tribeca,” Sachs said. “I don’t think that there’s a better place for this story and for Lucy. And it just feels like an incredible homecoming moment, particularly because I had a short with Tribeca in 2023. So it’s really exciting to be back at the festival.”
In reflecting on Lucy Schulman, one can’t help but think of the oxygen mask metaphor. Originating from standard airplane safety briefings that instructs passengers to secure their own oxygen masks before assisting others, the metaphor serves as a powerful reminder to prioritize your own well-being first as a means to then effectively care for others. “First of all, I love the oxygen mask analogy,” said Sachs. “I hadn’t thought of that, and you’re the person to say that. And I think that’s incredibly astute. Very much a perfect analogy for what I hope people take away.”
Sachs continued by explaining what lessons she hopes audiences take away from her movie. “My hope is that, in experiencing Lucy’s journey, people perhaps think about themselves a little bit and kind of reclaim that main character thing a little bit, right?” Sachs discussed. “We are masters of our own ships and we are sort of the center of our own story. And it’s an important, lifelong reminder.”
Packing an important, lifelong reminder in a charming, accessible, and lovely coming-of-age story, Lucy Schulman will likely resonate with many young adults who are navigating their array of priorities as they grapple with figuring out who they really are as an individual.
Watch the full interview with Lucy Schulman director, writer, and star Ellie Sachs below….
