Written and directed by Amanda Kramer, By Design
is dynamic. It asks us to ponder our existence through ignored and unloved characters. That is, above all else, what they desire throughout this unique drama. Kramer’s dialogue, and the performances that go along with it, is stilted. It takes some getting used to, but once the film settles, the choice makes more sense. With moving performances from Juliette Lewis and Mamoudou Athie, By Design explores the loneliness of wanting to be seen, and how the characters attempt that in a world that would rather they be a sounding board.

At the center of it all is Lewis’ Camille, who struggles to feel much of anything. Her life consists of lunches with a couple of shallow friends — Samantha Mathis and Robin Tunney — who talk at her more often than to her, and shoe shopping with a mother who does much of the same, ignoring what Camille wants in favor of her own opinions. So when Camille finds a designer chair she can’t afford, she’s drawn to it. She sees the chair for its beauty and, crucially, for its ability to make her feel seen if she owned it.

By Design’s Camille Is A Sympathetic Character

The Film’s Performance Art & Production Enhances The Story

Camille is relatable from the jump. She’s convinced herself that her life, well, it’s not so bad. She’s got friends and a home, but she doesn’t feel like anyone really listens beyond superficial quibbles with their own lives. Camille goes unnoticed and unheard. The voiceover narration tells us she’s never felt jealousy — until she saw the chair and wanted people to envy her purchase. So captivated by this chair and the potential it holds, Camille wishes she were somehow part of it. Her soul molding to the chair is an interesting twist; it’s also when the story truly begins.

Kramer enhances the story with performance art, all while asking us to examine the farce of a life unlived rather than the premise itself. Camille isn’t very materialistic until she sees the chair, and it’s here that the film analyzes our penchant for material goods in the absence of genuine love and care. The chair makes Camille feel good; she’s willing to give up her life to attach herself to it in some way, to bask in the love that was clearly put into its making.

When Athie’s Olivier, a piano player whose life is also devoid of attention and love, is gifted the chair by his ex, Camille feels seen and loved for the first time in her life. Olivier is drawn to the chair as Camille was, attaching himself to it in a way that seems odd to others but that also makes him feel more important yet wary when his (equally shallow and talkative) friends lavish him and his chair with attention. Somehow, this object becomes the most important thing in the characters’ lives.

By Design Has Great Themes That It Explores In Depth

Juliette Lewis & Mamoudou Athie’s Performances Are Excellent

Through a variety of situations — that becomes more ridiculous as the film goes on — By Design paints a sad, satirical portrait of existence: the shallowness and richness of it, the complexities of people’s lives and the simple desire to be seen, loved, and cared for without conditions. Camille’s life is richer as a chair; Olivier’s life has more meaning because of it. However, the reality is much different. After all, what is anything if we don’t give meaning to it? The chair is only a chair, but it has personality and a life of its own because of the characters. That applies to them as people, too.

Kramer’s use of the chair serves as a good metaphor. Existence can be what one makes of it, and feeling ignored in a society that puts value on keeping up performances is isolating. I didn’t think the film’s ending would be so heartbreaking, but it deviated from my expectations, which further drove home the message and left me dwelling on it. In many ways, By Design functions like a quirky play. The film itself is a performance, and Kramer, with the help of good cinematography, production design, and costumes, is content to leave parts of the story in the abstract.

By Design won’t be for everyone. It’s less of a straightforward narrative and more of an experimental one. But it’s not so outlandish that it’s inaccessible. The dialogue delivery is perhaps the most jarring, but there’s a lot to love about Lewis and Athie’s performances especially, which are, at various points, moving and deep, aloof and heartbreakingly complex. In a society that’s convinced us our lives are perfectly fine within the box we’ve enclosed ourselves in, By Design itself thinks outside the box and does something simultaneously daring, unique, and thoughtful.

By Design premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on January 23.