Matthew Shear, a frequent collaborator of Noah Baumbach, makes his directorial debut with an anxiety-fueled film that wears its influences on its sleeve yet still manages to deliver a thoroughly satisfying result.
Take a moment to consider how many professional opportunities would have to slip through your fingers before you would seriously entertain the idea of taking a job as a babysitter for your own therapist.
Director: Matthew Shear
Writer: Matthew Shear
Stars: Amanda Peet, Matthew Shear, Bob Balaban
That should give you some idea of the predicament Sam (Matthew Shear) finds himself in in the film *Fantasy Life*. Sam—a law student who was once highly promising, but whose crippling anxiety has stalled his legal career—finds himself fired from a firm where, truth be told, he was no longer asked to do much more than alphabetize boxes of long-obsolete files.
With bills piling up and a profound sense of aimlessness—a state of mind that hasn't improved since he took a mental health leave from Fordham Law School nearly a decade ago—the offer to look after his therapist’s three granddaughters (while the girls’ father plays bass with the band Gov’t Mule) strikes him as an opportunity depressingly worthy of his time.
Of course, such an opportunity doesn't simply materialize out of thin air; one must first be part of an insular and overly meddlesome social circle. Sam began therapy solely because the doctor is a friend of his parents; consequently, the doctor’s wife—who also doubles as his receptionist—already knows that the young man is out of work. As Sam attempts to make a discreet exit after a session, she reminds him that he used to play with her son, David (Alessandro Nivola)—now an adult—back when their respective families frequented the same tennis and paddle club decades ago.
The young couple is in a bind regarding childcare, as their arrangement with their regular nanny has fallen through; for his part, Sam can’t seem to find a single compelling reason to turn down a simple gig that will net him 300 dollars a night. Caring for the three girls proves to be a manageable task; Sam’s real challenge lies in navigating the complex relationship between his two employers: David and his wife, Dianne (Amanda Peet).
Two creative, attractive, and wealthy individuals—who live off their families’ sizable trust funds while pursuing their passions and raising their children amidst opulence—shouldn’t have too many problems; yet, inevitably, they have found a way to create a few for themselves. David, a rocker with a penchant for beanies, believes his life of luxurious domesticity prevents him from living the existence of hedonistic adventure he so deeply craves. Dianne feels that he shows insufficient empathy toward the sense of purposelessness she has experienced since her acting career took a backseat to motherhood. Their marriage is a powder keg, and Sam turns out to be the anxious—and eager-to-please—spark that sets the whole thing ablaze.
This neurotic nanny doesn’t fit most people’s idea of a sexy candidate for an extramarital affair; yet, he is exactly what Dianne needs to get the taste of David out of her mouth. He is kind, empathetic, a good listener, and completely smitten with her—in a way the former movie star hasn’t felt in years. As the family prepares for a summer trip to Martha’s Vineyard with their relatives—and, naturally, Sam’s therapist—the two strike up an overly intimate friendship that exposes many of the bonds holding this family together, revealing them to be mere fantasies.
As a first-time writer-director, Shear previously worked on four films by Noah Baumbach (*Marriage Story*, *The Meyerowitz Stories*, *Mistress America*, and *While We’re Young*). And *Fantasy Life* displays that influence without any attempt to hide it. A neurotic portrait of New York’s creative class—people who go to great lengths to drown out their own privilege with self-inflicted problems—*Fantasy Life* draws from the work of Baumbach just as freely as Baumbach once drew from that of Woody Allen.
It doesn't exactly stand out for its originality, but it executes its premise with enough dexterity to render that criticism irrelevant. The script remains honest and engaging from start to finish, without succumbing to excessive clichés; likewise, brisk editing ensures that no scene drags on for a single line longer than necessary. And while *Fantasy Life* follows in the footsteps of those artists who built their careers around anxious protagonists, its depiction of anxiety demonstrates an understanding of the disorder that feels more modern than that of its predecessors.
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