Teyana Taylor has addressed the online discourse about how her character, Perfidia Beverly Hills, was portrayed in One Battle After Another.
In a new cover story with Complex, the multi-hyphenate creative was asked why she’s been “invested” in people understanding the complicated character.
“Because everyone deserves understanding, especially complicated characters,” she replied. “When we watch movies, we often ask, ‘Why did they do that?’ I love when films create healthy dialogue. I don’t just want people to understand — I want discussion. I want to hear different perspectives. We don’t do that enough anymore. It felt powerful to see this movie and Perfidia shake the table. It made some people uncomfortable, while others understood it completely — especially mothers who’ve dealt with postpartum depression.”
She added: “Perfidia is misunderstood. She comes from a long line of revolutionaries, and that identity is ingrained in her. When you inherit something like that, you feel pressure to carry the torch. Her fight is for freedom — free bodies, free borders, freedom for all. Then she gets pregnant and doesn’t fully understand what that means. Everything changes. Even when she’s eight or nine months pregnant, she says, ‘I feel like Tony Montana,’ because that revolutionary mindset is still in her. Nothing slows her down—until it does.”
She then tried to explain that the discourse around her portrayal shows how some might not take postpartum depression into account when critiquing the character.
“After the baby, she feels ignored, like a piece of meat,” she told Complex. “The person she’s building a life with focuses entirely on the baby. He sees it as love for their child, but she experiences it differently. When you’re dealing with postpartum depression, you can’t tell a mother how to process it. Everyone handles it differently. She may not have handled it the way others would, but there shouldn’t be judgment. What we can do is step in and help. In the movie, no one does. We hear Perfidia cry out, and we see Bob walk to the door — but he walks away instead of going in. That leaves her feeling like she’s alone, in survival mode: I’m all I’ve got, so I have to show up for myself. The debate around her character shows how overlooked postpartum depression still is. Instead of asking how to help, we end up judging a mother who’s struggling with it.”
Teyana took home the Golden Globe for best performance by a female actor in a supporting role in any motion picture earlier this year and she’s also up for best supporting actress at the Oscars this Sunday.