An unnamed woman in a red wig welcomes a documentary crew into her New York apartment. The crew captures her everyday life, as she fights with her boyfriend and gossips with her friend. These scenes alternate with black-and-white footage of a woman in a red wig escaping a suburban existence.
Direction
Sachs' debut already shows his eye for queer intimacy.
Acting
Dibbell's Lady is camp, heartbreaking, utterly specific.
Director
Ira Sachs
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot in Sachs' actual apartment with friends, this is essentially mumblecore before mumblecore—queer DIY cinema when AIDS funding was collapsing and indie film meant $500 and a borrowed camera.
The red wig becomes a throughline in Sachs' career: Keep the Lights On (2012) and Passages (2023) both interrogate how queer people perform identity for lovers and cameras. Lady is the thesis statement.
US
