Robin Wright can make parental certainty uncomfortable and unexpectedly funny. We rate her restraint as an actor; her work directing The Girlfriend is entertaining, though its increasingly unreasonable behaviour proves harder to make convincing.
Fi1m perspective
In The Girlfriend (2025), Robin Wright's Laura Sanderson treats her objection to her son's relationship as though it ought to end the discussion. She is so certain that Cherry is the problem that Daniel scarcely seems entitled to an opinion. We were surprised by how much her possessiveness made us laugh, because Wright gives Laura no apparent reason to doubt that she is being a responsible parent. The hostility is still unpleasant, and Wright does not soften it to secure the joke. Her performance makes a familiar family quarrel worth following even when the plot becomes predictable.
The Princess Bride (1987), in which she played Buttercup, established her in cinema, and Jenny Curran in Forrest Gump (1994) brought wider recognition. For this combination of acting and directing, though, the important turn is House of Cards (2013–2018): Wright played Claire Underwood and directed ten episodes. Land (2021) followed as her feature directorial debut, with Wright also starring.
As a director, her interest in shifting viewpoints is a good fit for The Girlfriend. She and Andrea Harkin keep the contest between Wright and Olivia Cooke entertaining by taking both women seriously, even as their conduct becomes harder to defend. The suspense is strongest when a change of perspective makes us question a judgement, rather than wait for the next unlikely event. That approach also leaves room for Wright's restrained acting: Laura's confidence can be funny without the series having to stop and announce that it is a joke.
The weakness is how little of the women's complexity survives their increasingly outlandish behaviour. Thin supporting characters do not help, and changing the viewpoint cannot make every development surprising or every motive believable. We recommend the series for the performances, with less faith in the mystery; Wright's acting gives us the firmer reason to keep watching. Leave sensible parental behaviour off the list of requirements.
Biography
Robin Wright is an American actress, director and producer. Born on 8 April 1966 in Dallas, Texas, she began her career as a model before moving into acting with a role on the soap opera Santa Barbara (1984). She has also been credited as Robin Wright Penn.
Her film roles include Jenny Curran in Forrest Gump (1994), Buttercup in The Princess Bride (1987) and Margaret in Here (2024). On television she played Claire Underwood in House of Cards and has appeared in series such as Santa Barbara.
Wright has directed episodes of House of Cards and Ozark, as well as the film Land (2021). For the miniseries The Girlfriend (2025) she directed, produced and starred as Laura Sanderson.
