In 2017 The New Yorker published a short story by Kristen Roupenian called “Cat Person.“ The story is about college student Margot who meets the older Robert while working as a cinema cashier. He is a bit dismissive, she has a bit of a crush. They text for a while, have tense dates, and go to his place. The sex is bad, but Margot doesn’t stop it. After they stop seeing each other, Robert becomes abusive. The events, told from Margot’s perspective, perfectly captured conflicting expectations, gendered misunderstandings and microaggressions and sparked a worldwide debate on the Internet. Which of the two behaved correctly or incorrectly, when and why? Susanna Fogel’s adaptation of CAT PERSON has the aesthetics of a high school film: colorful and told quickly, oscillating between comedy and drama. Fogel is loyal to the short story in terms of the events and dialogue and adds a series of supporting characters and additional twists as well as Margot’s nightmares and daydreams that take over the role of the inner monologues (for example, Margot imagines Robert as a serial killer in a moment of insecurity and later on sees them talking about the relationship in couples therapy). The latter works better than the former: the heightened dramatization isn’t necessary because Emilia Jones (CODA, HIGH-RISE) and Nicholas Braun (Cousin Greg from “Succession“) are very good as a mismatched couple who is caught up in projections. The film isn’t as precisely told as the short story, but it is a good foundation to talk about dating, toxic masculinity, and female experience.

Hendrike Bake

Translation: Elinor Lewy