Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story, which premiered Thursday at the Sundance Film Festival, celebrates the deeply personal absurdity of the comedian. In seeking to understand her, the film serves up a poignant dose of classic Bamford.
Bamford is open in her stand-up act about struggles with mental health. The documentary provides a direct transition from trauma to art, and in fact the title is Bamford's alternate description of Depression.
She tells filmmakers Judd Apatow and Neil Berkeley about early instances of Depression at 10, including evocative childhood artwork and an obituary she wrote for herself as a child.
She was already hilarious even while making cries for help. Then she discusses the confusing messages her mother gave her.
Following those stories directly with the resulting standup bit juxtaposes the real version with the comedy version. Both are true and vulnerable, but Bamford found the way to make it entertaining.
Joel and Marilyn Bamford were loving parents and Marilyn even agreed to reenact some of her misguided advice for a video bit. The film edits secondhand accounts of Joel's confused, awkward remarks with Joel endearingly owning up to them.
Maria's early act with a violin is impressive because she still has to play really well for those jokes to work.
Amid career success, Maria seeks institutional help of varying degrees of quality. She gets a diagnosis of OCD and finds medications that help balance her mood.
She struggles with the ethics of being a spokesperson for a company with real-world controversies. She does a YouTube sitcom and The Comedians of Comedy for Netflix.
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Her subsequent Netflix series Lady Dynamite remains the purest synthesis of Maria Bamford. Covering three phases of her life, reflecting her comedy and shattering the rules of format is so Maria.
Yet, the hours and demands of television production create more coping challenges. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos still calls Lady Dynamite his favorite Netflix original, so whatever can be said for the quality of other shows he's greenlit, at least he knows the good ones.
The film explores each step in Maria's career and mental health in depth. What comes through is she feared being a danger to others more than herself.
Comedy contemporaries like Conan O'Brien, Patton Oswalt and Tig Notaro give testimonials to Bamford's excellence. But, seeing the likes of Stephen Colbert, Ron Funches and Brian Posehn visibly crack up hearing stories about her speaks volumes.
The film proceeds through last year, when Maria and her husband Scott Marvel Cassidy had to evacuate Altadena during the Eaton fire, and she collaborated with a clown school. Repairing her relationship with her sister proves especially touching.
Fans of Maria Bamford will still gain new insights into the motivating incidents of her comedy. If this is Maria Bamford 101, wait 'til you explore her catalog of work.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
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