Mary Bronstein Explains End of ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’

Spoilers ahead for the plot and ending of If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.

Mary Bronstein’s first movie, the acerbic 2008 comedy Yeast, co-starring Greta Gerwig, came and went with little fanfare. In her eyes, it was a wrong-time situation: No one was eager to engage with what she calls the film’s “aggression” or its objectionable characters. But 17 years later, moods have shifted. Bronstein’s second movie, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You , is being embraced for its aggression. “It’s because people are angry,” she says. “They’e overwhelmed, and they want to see that reflected back.”

The final act in particular is a frenzy of anger. Over the preceding hour, we’ve seen Linda (Rose Byrne) hit a near-comical breaking point in every area of her life — her sick daughter’s unrelenting needs, her a