Shiva Baby (2021) on Netflix
At a shiva with her parents, Joel and Debbie, college student Danielle finds her ex-girlfriend Maya and her sugar daddy Max among the guests. Max's wife Kim arrives late with their baby.
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- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.1/1043,094 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes97%
Trailer
Plot summary
Danielle, a college senior, sleeps with Max, her sugar daddy, before rushing to a shiva at her aunt Sheila's house with her parents, Joel and Debbie. Her mother coaches her on how to answer questions about her disorganized life, and mentions that her ex-girlfriend Maya, who is headed to law school, will be there. At the gathering, the local Jewish community compares Danielle to Maya, and Debbie introduces her to Max, a former colleague of Joel's, hoping one of his relatives will hire her. She also warns that he is off limits because he is married to Kim, who arrives late with their baby, Rose, after their baby-sitter cancels at the last minute.
Cast
Show all 15 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Shiva Baby (2021)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Some of the film's potential financiers asked the producers to consider replacing lead actress Rachel Sennott with a bigger name star; Seligman kept her as Danielle, having 'never even thought about casting someone else'.
- Continuity was a struggle: the production had only two days when the entire six-person principal cast was together at once, and the baby playing Rose would not stop crying, so Seligman reworked scenes to fit a crying baby.
- Emma Seligman's film grew out of her own 'uncomfortable and funny' experience of attending shivas and the sugar babies she knew at NYU; expanding it, she drew on her own bisexuality to show more of Danielle and her sexuality.
- Shiva Baby had a record-breaking sixteen-week continuous run at the Quad Cinema in New York, from April 2 to July 22, 2021.
- Composer Ariel Marx suggested adding her score to scenes where it had not originally been intended, making them more stressful; Seligman had wanted strings to reflect Klezmer music without overpowering the film.
- Cinematographer Maria Rusche used Kowa anamorphic lenses so several characters could stay in shot together and natural image distortion could stress Danielle's anxiety; Rusche said the effect made it feel 'like the walls could literally cave in on her'.
- After scouting the Brooklyn house, director Emma Seligman built a Lego model of its first floor and used it to plan the shots.
