Since her female-led Lord of the Flies riff Ladyworld premiered at Fantasia Fest in 2018, director Amanda Kramers films have gotten progressively weirder and more abstract. Her subsequent films Please, Baby, Please and Give Me Pity! were both experimental musicals shot and performed in a vintage style. Please, Baby, Please the more ambitious of the two boasted the return of Demi Moore, bringing her into the arthouse and paving the way for her career resurgence as the star of The Substance.

By Design also makes a point to bring back actresses Hollywood has been ignoring for years Robin Tunney, Samantha Mathis, Melanie Griffith and, of course, Academy Award nominee Juliette Lewis. And in Kramers dreamland they dont have to play tired moms or put-upon teachers; they can simply live a stylish life, quipping and conversing with each other onscreen. The film tells the story of Camille (Lewis) a single, middle-aged woman carving out a quiet existence with her two best friends, Lisa (Mathis) and Irene (Tunney). After lunch one day, the women go shopping and Camille falls in love with a beautiful golden brown chair. The narrator (Griffith) refers to it as a stunner, and the sentiment is shared by almost everyone who sees it. The wood is high-quality with a smooth, chic design that would lend itself well to an elegant home. From the moment Camille sees the chair, shes compelled to purchase it, despite how expensive it is. Camille, Lisa and Irene all fawn over the chair while the saleswoman Sarah (Madison McKinley) looks on with annoyance. The chair is so expensive that Camille has to go home that night and check her finances before returning to purchase it.

But the morning she arrives, cash in hand, the chair has already been sold to Marta (Alisa Torres) as a parting gift to her ex-boyfriend Olivier (Mamoudou Athie), a handsome and heartbroken pianist. Dejected, Camille asks Sarah if she can touch the chair before leaving. But once she does, something magic happens: Her soul leaves her body and enters the chair.

Irene takes Camilles body home while her soul is wrapped up with the chair and delivered to Olivier. Its presence immediately improves his mood, and Olivier begins using the chair as emotional support. Marta has taken all the other furniture, so the chair sits in the middle of his home, serving as his only companion. Perhaps its Camilles spirit that draws him to the chair, giving him comfort and allowing him to work through his loneliness.

Meanwhile, Camilles body lies motionless in her apartment while her friends and family come over and try to spend time with her. Comedically, they all assume shes giving them the silent treatment for one reason or another, and they become convinced shes suffering from a deep depression. But our narrator reveals the truth: Camille isnt depressed or jealous of any other person. Throughout the film, Camilles favorite quote is repeated: Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. Camille doesnt want the money or love lives of her friends. Shes not depressed in any traditional sense, being content with the smallness of her life. Its living that she seems to have little interest in. What she wants is to be adored without having to perform the tasks of being a real, live person. Camille wants to be coveted, desired and admired for simply being a beautiful thing.

And Olivier loves her as the chair, perhaps because of Camilles calming spirit. By Design is the kind of film that isnt afraid to be corny, treating Olivier and Camilles connection as man and chair as seriously as any other relationship. When Olivier goes to dinner with his friends, he brings the chair with him. When he sleeps, he dreams of people crowding him, intruding on his intimate time with it. Camille is just happy to be needed and provide care without having to be herself.

But eventually, as the people around them get increasingly frustrated with the odd couples dreamlike connection, real life threatens to kill Camilles fantasy. Kramers script is philosophical, the film questioning the very nature of what it means to live and the burdens of emotions like love, hate and jealousy.

By Design is a gorgeous film, with stylized interiors and attractive people in stylish, colorful clothes. The world Camille inhabits is a beautiful one and all she wants is to be one of the beautiful things a production designer would add to a scene. Why star in the film when you can just be still, waiting for admiring eyes? In contrast to Camilles desires, By Design deploys a group of dancers who exist in her and Oliviers dream spaces. Its in these moments that the film feels more like performance art, externalizing a pleasure so abstract that it defies verbal explanation.

But Griffiths narration puts all the absurd scenes into context, her iconic, flirty and feminine voice gently guiding us through the films theatrical beats. Much like Give Me Pity!, By Design feels like a performance piece centered on one womans unique mind. The insights and artistic inclinations that populate Kramers work arent for everyone, and theres a good chance By Design wont connect with most viewers. But the alienating nature of the premise is what makes it fascinating, pushing us to question how we want to be seen and experienced as people in the world. With all the constant demands of living, wouldnt it be peaceful to sit still for a little while?