Lady (15)

Sian Clifford goes gloriously over the top in this outrageous mockumentary comedy, playing an aristocrat whose grand ideas about herself match the chaos she creates. It’s a bizarre feature debut that mixes country-house eccentricity with tenderness to keep its heroine likeable.

Young filmmaker Sam (Laurie Kynaston) arrives at Lady Isabella’s estate hoping to document her life. Instead, he finds himself caught up in the world of a woman who describes herself as “aristocracy’s answer to the Kardashians”. Isabella hosts the children’s talent show, but now wants to enter it herself with a multimedia performance involving poetry, painting and photographs of her apparently dead body.

Sam sees Isabella as the perfect subject, but she quickly turns her attention towards his insecurities. Their relationship becomes increasingly chaotic, with absurd situations, awkward encounters and comic detours.

Clifford is having a ball, throwing herself into Isabella’s vanity, insecurity and spectacular entitlement. Kynaston makes an appealing foil, while Juliet Cowan gets laughs as the bewildered housekeeper. Beneath the silliness is a human idea about wanting to be noticed and taken seriously. Odd, messy and frequently hilarious, this is an eccentric comedy with plenty of personality.