MOTHER OF ALL ROLES

Rose Byrne explains how her Oscar-nominated turn in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You changed her approach to parenting

- GILL PRINGLE

If you're planning on starting a family, Rose Byrne's anxiety-inducing new black comedy, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, might send you running for the hills. In a tour-de-force role that earned her an Academy Award nomination, Rose plays Linda, an isolated working mother who is barely hanging on.

And the star, who has two children with the actor Bobby Cannavale, giggles when asked if the movie might contribute to the declining global birthrate.

“I hope not. Look, what happens to Linda in this film – having a seriously ill child – 99% of parents will not experience something like this, thank God,” she says.

Rose's character has to juggle her job as a therapist with caring for a daughter who is suffering from a severe eating disorder, requiring a feeding tube and trips to day care. The pair are then forced to relocate to a rundown motel after their home is flooded.

HEALING THROUGH HUMOUR

With a strong background in comedy, Rose, 46, helps to bring levity to the notion that Linda – who clearly needs help herself – is a licensed practitioner whose work involves helping people with problems even worse than her own.

“This film is really about being a caretaker as well as a mother,” the actress says. “Friends of mine who don't have children relate to it, too, if they've looked after somebody ill in their life: a friend, a parent, a spouse, a sibling. It's an artistic expression of trauma, so I don't think it should hinder you from starting a family.”