‘The Heirloom’ (2025) Review – Unusual Relationship Comedy Offers A Promising Yet Flawed Premise

Post-COVID cinema has to be a genre in its own right. With Ari Aster’s Eddington setting a highly anticipated Cannes premiere, mixing politics with the confinement of the pandemic to create a mysterious blend that only Aster is capable of —not that this writer has seen the movie yet, but she’s on the edge of her seat! The Heirloom joins the series of pandemic films that have been released over the years ever since the modern catastrophe has subsided, leaving behind a cascade of surmounting problems that need to be addressed. 

One of these problems is scary domesticity, which this film depicts perfectly. The pandemic-bound couples who can’t go out to party, invite people over, or give each other the space they both need are stuck with the skeletons in the relationship closet. Nothing happens in Eric and Allie’s lives. They’re arguing, but their conversations lack enough excitement for this viewer to fully engage. Their domesticity is too personal and lacks the spark to motivate an uninterrupted viewing experience. The film feels like a stretched slice of life, rather than one about a life lived.

Proper introduction, first. Eric and Allie are afraid of facing the inevitable: getting stuck with each other during lockdown. This was a very relatable problem for couples worldwide during the pandemic-doomed year. To break the pattern, they decide to adopt a rescue dog, Millie, and instead of breaking the tension of the uncertainty that lies ahead with the difficult year, the challenges that raising a pet demands from them complicate matters. It raises questions about their relationship and poses individual crises for Eric, the aspiring filmmaker who struggles with finishing his script, and wonders whether he should shift his inspiration to the new addition to his family.

Admittedly, there are some endearing moments, like when Eric—fully resistant to getting a dog at first—watches his partner’s sleepy face and then immediately starts researching how to get a rescue, or the first moments of Allie interacting with the traumatized Millie (or any scene ofboth of them in general). However, these moments are not enough to sustain enthusiasm about the narrative moving forward. In other words, the film works perfectly for fans of the filmmakers, actors, and real-life couple Ben Petrie and Grace Glowicki, who play Eric and Allie, respectively. It seems like a personal project that gained wide release and might have benefited from a little tweaking before it crossed into the universal, which it would have greatly benefited from.

The film perfectly captures the atmosphere of getting stuck with Eric and Allie in their house. The experience is surreal and a bit of a drag, it would’ve worked out more if there was more meat to the narrative rather than the day in the life where nothing happens most of the time. One of the storylines that piques my interest is Allie’s nostalgia and her refusal to let go of her childhood memories with her family. Separately, I wish this were fleshed out more; it could’ve been translated into an entire movie. As a standalone concept, it would’ve perfectly worked out. Glowicki is amazing as Allie, she perfectly blends her quirks, vulnerability, and her rawness with her evolving emotions as a dog parent.

The Heirloom is more of a home video than a domestic drama. It’s abjection comedy that blends elements of precarious cringe elements with an all too familiar setting. It’s not that it doesn’t work out as much as it needs more juice to it, even if it relies on multiple indie filmmaking tropes, but the realistic approach of casting a real life couple as the distraught fictional ones, gives it a touch of authenticity that saves it from falling off the railing.

The Heirloom is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of Factory 25.