Frida Slattery As Herself

A BBC Culture Pick for 2026

‘You could probably run cities on the energy generated between directors like him and actresses like her’

When Frida Slattery and John Reddan meet in a Dublin pub in 2005, neither can imagine how they will come to shape and define each other’s lives.

Frida is struggling to launch her acting career, while John is already gaining a name for himself as a director. From the first they see in each other potential and the chance to create work that matters, though the lines between collaboration and exploitation, friendship and desire will prove dangerously slippery.

With the financial crisis looming, the next 16 years takes them from Dublin to London, via New York and LA, and through success and disappointment, joy and heartbreak. Their connection is tested and stretched to the point of rupture, but something remains that outlasts both their work and their own shifting perceptions.

FRIDA SLATTERY AS HERSELF is an unforgettable story of love, artistic collaboration, and two people coming of age, together and apart.