# Appropriate Behavior

Appropriate Behavior is a 2014 British romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Desiree Akhavan in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Akhavan as Shirin, a bisexual Persian American woman in Brooklyn struggling to rebuild her life after breaking up with her girlfriend Maxine (Rebecca Henderson). The cast also includes Scott Adsit, Halley Feiffer, Anh Duong, Hooman Majd, Arian Moayed and Aimee Mullins.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 18 January 2014. It was released in the United States on 16 January 2015 by Gravitas Ventures and in the United Kingdom on 6 March 2015 by Peccadillo Pictures.

## Plot

Brooklynite Shirin, the daughter of well-off Persian immigrants, is left homeless and jobless after her girlfriend Maxine breaks up with her. With the encouragement of her friend Crystal she moves in with strange roommates and gets a new job teaching 5-year-old Park Slope children the art of movie making.
Shirin's parents are confused as to why Shirin moved out of her old apartment as Shirin has never told them that she is bisexual and dating a woman. Determined to get her life back on track, Shirin begins trying to follow Maxine, hoping to rekindle their relationship. Maxine begins dating Tibet, a fellow teacher at the Park Slope school where she works. Shirin devotes herself to her work and comes out to her brother, who is mostly supportive, and her mother, who is in denial.
On the subway, Shirin tells Crystal that she again plans to bring up the issue of her sexuality with her mother in a month. She sees Maxine outside the subway car on the platform and the two women wave to one another.

## Cast

* Desiree Akhavan as Shirin
* Scott Adsit as Ken
* Rebecca Henderson as Maxine
* Halley Feiffer as Crystal
* Anh Duong as Nasrin
* Hooman Majd as Mehrdad
* Arian Moayed as Ali
* Aimee Mullins as Sasha
* Justine Cotsonas as Layli
* Ryan Fitzsimmons as Brendan
* Christopher James Baker as Ted

## Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 97% based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Warm, funny, and quietly profound, Appropriate Behavior serves as a thoroughly compelling calling card for writer, director, and star Desiree Akhavan." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, the film holds an average score of 78, based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
David Rooney in his review for The Hollywood Reporter praised the film by saying that "The promise of fresh cultural perspectives gives way to a more amorphous slice of contemporary romantic angst comedy." Ryan Gilbey wrote in the New Statesman that Akhavan is "a whiz (sic) at writing characters whose life seems to extend beyond their brief screentime." Katie Walsh of Indiewire gave the film a grade of B+, saying that "Funny, unique, and entirely inappropriate, Appropriate Behavior is a supremely satisfying and irreverent take on the New York rom-com."

### Accolades

| Year | Group/Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
| 2014 | 30th Independent Spirit Awards | Best First Screenplay | Desiree Akhavan | Nominated | |
| 2014 | San Diego Asian Film Festival | Grand Jury Prize | Desiree Akhavan | Won | |