Alliance Of Women Film Journalists
Sophie von Haselberg on LOVE…RECONSIDERED, GIVE ME PITY! and Being American Royalty
By Nadine Whitney
January 31, 2024
Sophie von Haselberg knows a bit about being “American Royalty,” but she has never traded on her famous parents (Bette Midler and artist Martin von Haselberg) for career recognition. Sophie prefers to work in indie films and smaller roles. In Love… Reconsidered she plays thirty-something Ruby Goldberg who has little to show for her life except fifteen failed careers and a rich ex-boyfriend. Nadine Whitney talks to Sophie about what it means to perform authenticity and her work with Amanda Kramer in Give Me Pity!.
Nadine Whitney: For years people have considered what American Royalty is. First it was wealth based and political dynasties. Now it is celebrity based. Most people know more about the Kardashians/Kendalls than they do about themselves. The idea of making it has turned into a “girl boss” fantasy where access to celebrity money-makers is like being invited to court. You must have a lot of lived experience with that milieu. Is that what attracted you to Love.. Reconsidered?
Sophie von Haselburg: Hah! I’m glad you pointed out the “girl boss” celebrity fantasy. Exploring the absurdity of that world was a big draw. It does seem like there is a logic that says the only way to “make it” nowadays is to be an entrepreneur of some sort. Even the hyperbolic language we’re surrounded by – badass bitch, boss bitch, rise and grind, etc. – places emphasis on being successful in a very particular, outward-facing way. I think it’s fair to blame at least a chunk of that on social media – we all have an audience, and so we have to be the ‘face’ of something, whether it is yourself as a brand or an actual brand. I fall prey to this thinking as much as anyone – I wasn’t on Instagram until 2020, when I realized that as an actor, having a following of some sort can be helpful. (I also, embarrassingly, find it pretty fun to post, which probably says something about my own self-involvement!)
When we meet Ruby in Love.. Reconsidered, she has fallen deep into the trap of thinking that she is destined to be a ‘Boss Bitch’. She feels cosmically aligned with the Gwyneths of the world, even though her life as a 30-ish, unemployed woman who lives with her parents, couldn’t be further from theirs. In a hysterically naive way, she thinks that if she has the right trappings – wealthy friends, time in the Hamptons, and a feeling that she is with the ‘in’ crowd – she will achieve that sweet, sweet, GOOP-level success. And I won’t give too much away, but through a series of magical opportunities and occurrences, Ruby realizes that the things she thought she wanted were actually quite hollow.
NW: My favourite work of yours is Amanda Kramer’s Give Me Pity! Again, a satire on fame and fortune (plus a horror film). You choose distinctly off beat roles in indie features. What draws you to the outré?
SvH: I’m thrilled you enjoyed Give Me Pity! because I implicitly trust anyone who likes Amanda Kramer’s work. Yes, I am absolutely drawn to the outré – I’m even drawn to the gorgeous word outré! My parents – my dad in particular with his performance art in the 70s and 80s – both value the avant-garde, so that normalized the weird and the wacky for me. And then, three years of being pushed to my limits in drama school strengthened that muscle.
To me, any character I can transform – physically, vocally, or just put me in a wig – is enlivening. With Give Me Pity!, the opportunity to transform is obvious because Sissy St. Claire is living in a warped fantasy of her own making. What I loved about getting to work on Love… Reconsidered is that there was still transformation into a character, but it was subtler because Ruby’s life is much more recognizable and familiar.
Part of the fun of her is that on the one hand, she’s prone to self-pity and navel gazing, and on the other hand, she has this unstoppable, can-do attitude that makes her an absolute, irrepressible joy. I got to make these two movies back-to-back, and it was a blast to toggle between Sissy’s dark mind and Ruby’s eternal optimism.
NW: There is always a line between “performance” and “authenticity” and how society judges both. Love… Reconsidered looks into the phenomenon. Some of it is just through owning up to what you really want from life and love. Some of it is transformation through a fabulous (vintage) frock. Do you think Ruby’s journey through The Magic Closet is a reflection on how we forget what we need to do in life to achieve “authentic” happiness?
SvH: Oh man, authentic happiness: a pretty big topic that I think about a lot, given the unpredictability of this business and life generally. Yes – I do think Love… Reconsidered is about letting go of that striving mentality and letting life surprise you. Authentically! (Though I fear the word has somewhat lost its meaning…)
When Ruby stops using an external yardstick to measure herself, she starts witnessing how she actually feels and what she might actually want. It’s a pretty modern take on the romcom, in that, not only is there a swinger storyline and one about a guy who can’t stop getting boners, but also it looks at what life can be like if we stop trying to fit into the normative box we think we’re supposed to.
