“Fantasy Life” actors Alessandro Nivola, Amanda Peet and writer, director, actor Matthew Shear address the audience at the March 8 world premiere on SXSW. Credit: Wendy Goodman 

By Wendy Goodman 

“Fantasy Life,” which premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival on March 8 at Alamo Drafthouse, portrays a man who loses his job and experiences a life crisis. The film quickly becomes a tender, layered story rooted in Jewish emotional and cultural experience. Written, directed by, and starring Matthew Shear, the film uses dark humor and quiet vulnerability to explore adulthood, and how Jewish identity, tradition, and family expectation inform the search for stability. 
 
The story follows 30-something Sam Stein, a paralegal in New York whose routine is upended when he’s let go from his job. Adrift and riddled with anxiety, Sam turns to his therapist, played by Judd Hirsch, who suggests that he begins babysitting his young granddaughters. Through this unexpected arrangement, Sam meets Dianne (Amanda Peet), a former actress navigating a stalled career and complicated marriage, with whom he builds a unique connection.  
 
At its core, “Fantasy Life” is steeped in Jewish sensibility. Sam’s relationship with his therapist serves as both a voice of reason and the representation of the older Jewish generation. The film features a blend of self-deprecating humor, intergenerational dialogue, and it explores the question of “am I living up to what I’m supposed to be?”  

Amanda Peet (Dianne) and Matthew Shear (Sam) in “Fantasy Life.” Courtesy: Falco Ink. 

“Fantasy Life” also presents small moments of connection. It’s a film about babysitting that becomes a film about caretaking of children and of one another.  

Members of the film’s cast attended the screening in Austin and answered questions from the audience afterward. When Shear was asked about what surprised him the most about making the film, he spoke about his experience working with Peet saying, “This relationship was a mysterious and new thing that I found in my writing. To have Amanda Peet be my acting partner was so spontaneous and full of laughter and discoveries.” 

Amanda Peet was honored with the SXSW Special Jury Award for Performance for her role in the film, “Ever an actor of unsparing comic canniness, Amanda Peet brilliantly portrays a flailing actress with a stalled-out career who gets a renewed joie de vivre thanks to a manny, played by writer/director Matthew Shear. Her frankness about the perils and pitfalls of the entertainment industry are on full display in a performance that boldly takes on a meta quality while reminding us of why Peet has been so great all along.”