Julia Louis-Dreyfus is largely known for her comedic work in “Seinfeld” and “Veep.” Her impeccable wit and comedic timing led her to win multiple Emmys. Later, with films like “Enough Said” and “You Hurt My Feelings,” she explored her dramatic range. With “Tuesday” (2023), she sinks her teeth deeper into much darker themes of loss, grief, and resilience. Written & directed by Daina O Pusić, this magic realist drama follows a mother and her daughter trying to come to terms with death as it visits them in the form of a shape-shifting bird.
Spoilers Ahead
Tuesday (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Daina O Pusić’s “Tuesday” follows a mother and her daughter trying to learn to live with the inescapable truth of death while the daughter suffers from terminal illness. It is an ominous and somber look into the matters of death and grief.
What is Julia Louis-Dreyfus starrer ‘Tuesday’ about?
Julia Louis-Dreyfus starrer “Tuesday” revolves around Zora (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), a writer who lives with her terminally ill teenage daughter, Tuesday (Lola Petticrew). While Tuesday lies in her bed, Zora waits for Nurse Billie (Leah Harvey) to show up so she can leave the house. Later, Zora visits an antique shop to sell Tuesday’s collection of costumed doll rats. While negotiating a deal, she lies to the shop owner about Tuesday’s condition. She pretends that Tuesday is just like any other teenager. Back home, Billie asks Tuesday some questions about her interests.
Tuesday’s answers reveal her desires beyond her chair-bound reality. She doesn’t seek sympathy or pity but to exist without any limitations. As Billie walks away, a bird appears in front of her. It represents ‘Death’ (Arinzé Kene). Tuesday tells him a funny story that makes him laugh. Moments later, he shrinks to a size that can fit in her palms. She realizes that he is having a panic attack and relieves his stress. Then, she takes him to her bathroom, where he grows much bigger. As she tries to touch him, he gets scared and calls himself filthy. That reflects his loneliness, as no one wants to face Death.
Tuesday & the Death
Tuesday helps the Death get cleaned up. He sheds all his dirt/visible darkness. Then he grows bigger and hugs Tuesday as she asks him not to kill her. She requests some time so that she can inform her mother. But Zora ignores Tuesday’s calls. So, Tuesday beats her phone repeatedly to take out her frustration. Then, Death gets emotional as he recalls how he keeps hearing from people wanting to die. He cannot let go of those voices in his head. To ease his pain, Tuesday plays him a gangsta rap track, Ice Cube’s It Was a Good Day. In the song, Ice Cube talks about his good day as it is devoid of any misery.
Tuesday deeply resonates with that message as it makes her think of a day without any pain. She bonds with Death over this track. As they have a laugh locked inside a room, Billie wonders what Tuesday is up to. She calls Zora but receives no response. Zora sits in a park, eating some snacks by herself. She looks at a father playing with his young child. It makes her emotional. But she shrugs off her sentiments. Eventually, she falls asleep on a park bench and dreams of teaching her daughter how to swim. Zora wakes up only in the evening and notices a man screaming for help. She ignores him and walks home.
Zora & the Death
Tuesday requests the Death to wait until her mother returns. Zora returns home a couple of hours late and pays Billie extra money for her additional service. Billie suggests she stay with Tuesday more often as she believes Tuesday wants it. Zora gets upset over her suggestion. But she eventually calms down and tells Billie to come late the next day. Once Billie leaves, Zora takes a large breath and prepares herself for a dialogue with Tuesday. The Death stays in Tuesday’s earholes, asking her to tell the truth. So, eventually, Tuesday mentions that she is going to die that night.
Zora gets furious as she doesn’t want Tuesday to talk about these matters lightly. But to prove its inevitability, Tuesday eventually lets the Death appear in front of Zora. Zora gets shocked seeing the bird and gets almost into a fight with him. As she recovers from her initial shock, she asks him for some time alone with her daughter. Soon after, Zora follows him to the backyard and tries to kill him. She thrashes him and then burns his body. Still, he doesn’t cease to exist. So, she impulsively puts him in her mouth and eats him. She returns home and rigorously cleans her mouth. Then, she tells Tuesday that the Death is gone.
Tuesday (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
After Death departs, Zora starts spending more time with Tuesday, trying to make the most of it. But she also needs to face the reality of the cost of Tuesday’s further treatment. So, she decides to downscale and sell some things so that Tuesday can live longer. Tuesday realizes her mother’s desperate attempts not to let her die. But she also realizes that living without the pleasures of life isn’t sustainable. With the downscaling, they will need to live in a house that lacks soul and doesn’t feel theirs. She confronts Zora for what she did to the Death. Zora keeps lying. Then suddenly, she grows much larger like the bird did.
Billie runs to their house as if she is running from apocalyptic chaos. Inside, she notices giant Zora sitting in the main hall. While Tuesday and Billie discuss how to help, Zora suddenly shrinks to the size of a rat. Zora keeps screaming and struggles to breathe. Billie tells Tuesday about the events around the world that feel like an apocalypse. Then, the two take Zora out to the woods. As Zora gets over her panic, she grows back to her normal size. Tuesday assures her that she will help her deal with this situation. Then, Zora helps other struggling humans to escape their painful lives and feels a sense of catharsis.
What does Zora learn about her life?
After helping struggling humans, Zora carries Tuesday to a beach. There, she hopes to build a new life with Tuesday, helping others as they did the day before. She doesn’t register that Tuesday isn’t enthused about it. Soon after, she begins to hear the voices of strangers in distress. She also hears Tuesday wheezing out of her breathing pain. As it becomes unbearable, she lets the bird escape her body and come into its own form. It befuddles Tuesday as she wasn’t aware Zora ate the bird. While Tuesday is away, Zora makes a secret deal with the bird, where he remains in her body while she makes things right with Tuesday.
Zora apologizes to Tuesday for making her live through her extreme pain. Eventually, Tuesday loses her life, leaving Zora to live by herself. Billie visits her house and realizes Zora is not eating well due to her emotional pain. Zora keeps herself busy with monotonous tasks to distract herself and ease her healing process. A while later, Death reappears in Zora’s life. Zora worries about whether he wants to kill her. She reveals her dark thoughts stemming from her loneliness and Tuesday’s absence, which makes her want to end her life. But after a heart-rending conversation with Death, she decides to embrace reality, be resilient, and move on with her life.
Tuesday (2023) Movie Review:
“Tuesday” is an ambitious undertaking for a debut feature. It explores the impact of death on individuals who are suffering from the pain and those around them. To do so, it uses an astonishing, shape-shifting bird as a representation of Death. In this magical realist tale, Zora and her terminally ill daughter, Tuesday, try to come to terms with the inevitability of death. The thought of presenting death through a tangible entity is fascinating as an idea. So, it leads to intriguing segues through the dialogue between a human and a concept.
The screenplay focuses on how differently Zora and Tuesday look at these concepts. Although death is a part of life, humans often refuse to speak about it out of their fear of the unknown. The same is reflected in Zora’s perspective as she fears her impending loneliness in Tuesday’s absence. Unlike her, the people struggling with excruciating physical pain or misery seek an escape. The film captures these contradictions in the context of Zora & Tuesday and leads to profound results, especially because of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ heartrending performance.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Zora
Louis-Dreyfus bears the weight of Zora’s complicated dilemma, who isn’t ready to let go of her child’s life. Zora dreads seeing Tuesday in a worse condition and hopes to make more joyous memories with her. In a script that explores Zora’s darker impulses, Louis-Dreyfus is astonishing as she examines different stages of accepting the inevitability of death. Despite a soul-crushing representation of their relationship, the film is inconsistent, especially in the parts where it moves away from this central pair. It presents other narratives of people expecting or seeking an end, which feel undercooked and redundant.
At times, its expositions become overt at the risk of taking you out of the moment. However, Louis-Dreyfus, Lola Petticrew, and Leah Harvey’s performances keep you connected to its central pathos.
