Love the vibes and the acting performances, but I’m confused was her goal to replace the child she lost? Why was this child chosen to kidnap? At some point she said they wouldn’t keep the money, so what was the original goal, popularity? I see some comments say she wasn’t really psychic, if so how’d she know Billy didn’t kill her and wouldn’t that also mean she willingly blew their whole plan?

Love the vibes and the acting performances, but I’m confused was her goal to replace the child she lost? Why was this child chosen to kidnap? At some point she said they wouldn’t keep the money, so what was the original goal, popularity? I see some comments say she wasn’t really psychic, if so how’d she know Billy didn’t kill her and wouldn’t that also mean she willingly blew their whole plan?

Kim Stanley, what a powerhouse! Convinced that Ryan Murphy “borrowed” all of Jessica Lange’s AHS characters from this performance.

Kim Stanley, what a powerhouse! Convinced that Ryan Murphy “borrowed” all of Jessica Lange’s AHS characters from this performance.

Many such cases.

Many such cases.

Myra and Arthur have been dead for years. What's left of them are unrecognizable even to themselves. Myra has retreated into a pseudo-psychic state where she communicates with the spirit of her stillborn child while Arthur watches helplessly as his beloved partner loses touch with reality more every day. Still, his devotion to her is stronger than his own self-preservation and he finds himself helping her with a new plan to kidnap a child so Myra can claim to use her medium powers to help the family. They're not in this for the money but so Myra can be taken seriously, something she's been waiting for for years and something her husband hopes can cure her even slightly of these delusions. The plan was never going to work. Arthur knew this almost immediately but he hopes against hope that this can all work out somehow and they can return to who they were before everything happened. Seance on a Wet Afternoon is a film dripping with this kind of helpless and delusional hope that everything will go according to a plan doomed from the start, the kind of sinking feeling one gets from betting on a losing horse and watching yourself double down further and further.

Myra and Arthur have been dead for years. What's left of them are unrecognizable even to themselves. Myra has retreated into a pseudo-psychic state where she communicates with the spirit of her stillborn child while Arthur watches helplessly as his beloved partner loses touch with reality more every day. Still, his devotion to her is stronger than his own self-preservation and he finds himself helping her with a new plan to kidnap a child so Myra can claim to use her medium powers to help the family. They're not in this for the money but so Myra can be taken seriously, something she's been waiting for for years and something her husband hopes can cure her even slightly of these delusions. The plan was never going to work. Arthur knew this almost immediately but he hopes against hope that this can all work out somehow and they can return to who they were before everything happened. Seance on a Wet Afternoon is a film dripping with this kind of helpless and delusional hope that everything will go according to a plan doomed from the start, the kind of sinking feeling one gets from betting on a losing horse and watching yourself double down further and further.

The script is deft and agile from the beginning. Breadcrumbs of greater thematic density are dropped at perfect moments. Characters are infused with fragile humanity. Two years before Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the power and gender dynamics are blown out and magnified. When Bill laments he is not “an expert criminal,” we feel his helplessness. The exterior shots are engaging, feeling guerilla and unstaged. An anxious kinetic energy propels the couple as they only understand their actions after the fact. The ending transforms the film. It reveals a profound tragedy that has been hiding in plain sight from the beginning.

The script is deft and agile from the beginning. Breadcrumbs of greater thematic density are dropped at perfect moments. Characters are infused with fragile humanity. Two years before Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the power and gender dynamics are blown out and magnified. When Bill laments he is not “an expert criminal,” we feel his helplessness. The exterior shots are engaging, feeling guerilla and unstaged. An anxious kinetic energy propels the couple as they only understand their actions after the fact. The ending transforms the film. It reveals a profound tragedy that has been hiding in plain sight from the beginning.