'By Design' Review: Juliette Lewis Shines as a Chair in Esoteric Feminist Take on the Body Swap Formula | Sundance 2025
We all get the premise of the body swap movie: two souls switch. But never in my life have I seen a Freaky Friday with an inanimate object. If you know Amanda Kramer (Ladyworld, Please Baby Please), who combines quirky surrealism and abstraction with a distinctive female gaze, you know you're in for an experience to say the least. Her take on the body swap formula had me absolutely convinced of its basic concept: Juliette Lewis is a chair. No, not like Suzume where Lewis becomes a chair, then talks, moves, and goes on a journey of overcoming grief. If anything, it is an experimental, Lynchian, theatrical fairytale of value and connection that worked for me more often than it did not. Only Amanda Kramer could make me believe that being inanimate feels more exciting than being alive.
Image copyright (©) Courtesy of Sundance Institute
MPA Rating: N/A
Runtime: 1 Hour and 32 Minutes
Production Companies: Cold Iron Pictures, Smudge Films
Distributor: N/A
Director: Amanda Kramer
Writer: Amanda Kramer
Cast: Juliette Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Melanie Griffith, Samantha Mathis, Robin Tunney, Udo Kier, Clifton Collins Jr., Betty Buckley, Keir Gilchrist, Ruby Cruz
Release Date: N/A
Camille (Lewis) leads a dull day-to-day existence, possessing minimal control or authority over her surroundings. She acts as a mediator between her two catty friends (Samantha Mathis and Robin Tunney), with whom she goes on weekly brunches. One day, they visit a furniture store, and Camille is captivated by a simple wooden chair. When she goes to purchase it the next day, she learns it's been sold. Heartbroken, she wishes to become it, and in a twist of fate, she does. Camille's soul enters the chair, where she cannot speak but can only watch the world go by. The chair was a gift to Olivier (Mamoudou Athie), a hapless pianist, from his girlfriend while their relationship is on the rocks. He soon becomes infatuated with it. Meanwhile, the chair's soul has entered Camille's human form and put her into a coma, and her friends and her mom (Betty Buckley) act as though nothing's changed.
You'll Appreciate By Design if You're on Amanda Kramer's Wavelength
If you are familiar with Kramer’s work, you will not be surprised to find her signature theatrical local playhouse style, mixed with moody, colorful noir lighting, in her latest feature However, By Design is a slight departure, blending Adult Swim-style dry wit in its dialogue with profound interpretive movement and dance in its imagery, lending the characters symbolic depth as they navigate their not-so-wooden emotions. As it progressed into its weirdness and sometimes pseudosexual nature, I became captivated by Camille's struggle for belonging and purpose.
The surreal comedic swings often work well, with some of the biggest laughs involving Samantha Mathis and Robin Tunney's narcissistic personas acting against a vegetative Juliette Lewis. Every close-up of Lewis staring into the void as her friends chat endlessly about nothing is a complete MOOD. When it fails, it is at the expense of eccentric characters trying to command the screen with their own idiosyncratic behavior. For example, Clifton Collins Jr., appears as a violent sexual predator, with his character to hammer in the inherent dangers women face for simply existing, long before he goes on a long monologue that you wish was over before he even got started, let alone before he starts tap dancing.
You Will Believe Juliette Lewis is Chair
Even though she's a chair, so much occurs surrounding her through Mamoudou Athie's introverted Olivier that through the vignette-styled artsy chaos surrounding him and his dispositioned withdrawal from people, it's believable how he and that chair are intuitively intertwined. Athie does so much heavy lifting and pulls it all off admirably in an impeccable, passionate performance that has no right being as good as it is. Most of the time, it's him and the chair in an interior apartment, and Athie captures that emotional connectivity they share flawlessly. Seeing how Olivier sees the chair is how I cherish spending time in my bed, as it serves as my sanctuary, my workspace, my trash pit, and my heart. If you're single, you would want someone to look at you in the same loving way Athie does when he sees the chair. The lavish production design executed by Grace Surnow (Charli XCX's “360”) effectively amplifies the enigmatic, erotic connection they share.
I Mean, Not Everything Worked For me
By Design begins powerfully, however, as it progresses, its narrative gradually becomes less focused. The second act is driven by its episodic sequences and retro, esoteric look, and it's fun while it lasts. It is not long before one senses that the film is overextending itself, achieving its feminist thesis by the midpoint, only to realize there's about 40 minutes left in its runtime. It is in a constant cycle of losing me (Clifton Collins Jr. tap dancing),getting me back on board (Udo Kier as the creator of the chair yelling at Athie), losing me again, and finally ending on a strong high note. Yet one thing can be said, Kramer is a visual artist whose bold vision is one that will always have me eager to see what she does next.
Final Thoughts
By Design is one of those, "The girls that get it get it and the girls that don’t don’t," movies that you gotta be Amanda Kramer’s wavelength for. I for one got it, admired it, and while not everything worked for me personally, I appreciated it by the end. It's anything but wooden.
