2 Oct 2025
Storying Trauma, and the Case for Victim/Survivour-centred Prevention
Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby offers a careful examination of life after sexual violence through the character of Agnes, a young academic who struggles to move forward after an assault by a trusted figure. The film avoids explicit depiction of the assault and instead follows Agnes across five years of fractured time, using black humour and uneven moments of grace to show the slow, nonlinear work of living with trauma. This approach foregrounds the aftermath of violence from a survivour’s point-of-view, and it has led critics to call the film one of the most honest renderings of life after sexual assault in recent cinema.
Victor herself has described the experience as disruptive to a life’s flow: “It’s like a stone gets shoved into the river of your life,” a line that helps explain the film’s choices and its focus on recovery. Quoting that image here is not to romanticise harm but to signal the deliberate aesthetic decision to depict aftermath as interruption rather than narrative closure.
Seen through a feminist prevention lens, Sorry, Baby resists reductive narratives that frame violence solely as an isolated criminal act. By tracing the social context around Agnes, relationships of trust, workplace power asymmetries and the often-private dynamics that follow an assault, the film invites viewers to consider how institutional and interpersonal factors shape both harm and help. Film analysts note the movie’s focus on coping mechanisms, community support and the uneven path toward repair.
The film also emphasises the limits of individualised responses and the need for structural supports. Agnes’s attempts to rebuild are made possible in part by friendship, clinical care and empathetic peers, and those scenes point to prevention practices that extend beyond criminal justice. Reviews have highlighted the film’s refusal to offer tidy resolutions and its insistence that healing requires ongoing practical supports.
From this we can draw three victim/survivour-centred prevention implications:
Institutions that employ or educate people should adopt clear, timebound referral and investigation protocols that centre victim/survivours’ safety and choices.
Workplaces and universities should fund accessible, independent advocacy and counselling so that victim/survivours do not have to rely solely on informal supports.
Institutional leaders should advocate for, and participate in, sustained education that focuses on bystander intervention and healthy relationships, not only in the immediate aftermath.
Each step should be co-designed with victim/survivors and independent advocates so that responses reflect real needs and avoid retraumatising procedures. These measures treat recovery as relational and institutional, not simply personal.
Sorry, Baby deepens public understanding of how trauma reshapes everyday life, and it points to prevention work that honours victim/survivours. The film does not offer solutions on screen, but it clarifies where solutions must be built off screen: in policy, funding and practice. Leaders in education and employment should treat the film as a prompt to review referral pathways and victim/survivour supports now, not later.
Information and support for anyone affected by sexual harm is available through the following services in Aotearoa:
Wellington Rape Crisis – Free support for anyone affected by sexual violence. Call 04 801 8973 or visit wellingtonrapecrisis.org.nz
WellStop – Crisis support and counselling for people affected by sexual harm. Call 0800 935 5786 or visit wellstop.org.nz
HELP Auckland – Crisis support and counselling for survivors of sexual abuse. Call 0800 623 1700 or visit helpauckland.org.nz
Safe to Talk / Kōrero Mai Ka Ora – 24/7 national sexual harm helpline. Call 0800 044 334, text 4334, or visit safetotalk.nz
RespectEd Aotearoa – Prevention education and advice. Visit www.respected.org.nz/get-in-touch