Emma Mackey & Jamie Lee Curtis On Grief, Trauma & What Comes Next

Spoilers ahead. Is it actually possible to recover from childhood trauma, or will the effects linger forever? That’s the question Ella McCay asks, the new film from three-time Academy Award winner James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, As Good as It Gets). Following Ella McCay, played by Emma Mackey (Barbie, Sex Education), the 34-year-old lieutenant governor juggles the grief of her mother’s death as well as a strained relationship with her father, with help from her caring Aunt Helen, played by Jamie Lee Curtis (Freaky Friday, Everything Everywhere All At Once).

Ella exhibits signs of people-pleasing behaviour in both her work and personal life after watching her father repeatedly cheat on her mother. She seems doomed to repeat the cycle, trying her best to have a “normal” marriage with her husband Ryan (Jack Lowden), which results in her overcompensating to make him happy. Principal psychologist Carly Dober from Enriching Lives Psychology tells Refinery29 this could be