‘Baby Ruby’ Trailer May Actually Be Too Intense For Parents

Having a kid changes you. That’s something Jo (Noemie Merlant) and Spencer (Kit Harington) learn when a crying bundle of joy enters their manicured influencer lifestyle. It turns out that, whether you stagecraft perfection or not, the screaming need machine can get on your nerves.

Writer/director Bess Wohl’s Baby Ruby carries this deceptively simple premise, and it’s clear from the trailer that the film packs a powerful gut punch of postpartum psychosis. Watching it is like looping the car scene from The Babadook, desperately wanting the crying to stop and fearing more than anything what a mother might do to make that happen. It’s a frantic, bloody slap masquerading as film marketing.

Merlant looks horrifyingly haggard, and it seems likely that the movie — which was hailed coming out of TIFF and Fantasia — has made appropriate use of Harington’s particular brand of passive-eyed Himbo vibes. As a bonus, Meredith Hagner co-stars in what appears to be a toned-down version of her Search Party character, filled with bright eyes and enough sugar for us to choke on.

It’s also a descent into madness with a core topic that isn’t commonly seen on screen. For anyone who experiences the very, very common negative feelings that come after childbirth, the entire film is one big trigger warning. Even watching the trailer may be too much. For those willing to brave it, Baby Ruby hits theaters February 3rd.