You Hurt My Feelings ★★★

JULIA Louis-Dreyfuss and Nicole Holofcener have proven a strong pairing in two films now.

Enough Said was a great adult romance from 2013, written and directed by Holofcener and starring Seinfeld alumni Louis-Dreyfuss alongside the sadly since departed James Gandolfini.

Their new effort, You Hurt My Feelings, isn’t quite as good but still provides very engaging characters and intelligent storytelling.

Louis-Dreyfuss plays Beth an author struggling to deliver a follow-up to her successful debut novel. Her husband Don is an unconventional therapist who is also struggling to connect with his clients.

Beth’s sister Sarah (Michaela Watkins) and her husband Mark (Arian Moayed) are all close and the sisters spend much time debating Beth’s lack of confidence.

Don, played well by Tobias Menzies, has been telling Beth how talented she is and how much he likes her new book. But Beth and Sarah overhear him confessing to Mark that he doesn’t like the novel but doesn’t want Beth to know.

Shattered at first by what she sees as a bretrayal of trust, Beth starts to question the basis and honesty of their relationship.

Apart from the family interactions, there is plenty of humour in Beth and Don’s respective jobs as a writing teacher and a counsellor.

It’s good to have characters that seem truly human, real and identifiable.