Nesting (2025) Review
Following an acclaimed festival run, NESTING quickly established itself as a standout in the genre space. The film made its World Premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival, where Cinq-Mars won the Best Director Award (2025), and went on to screen at the SOHO Horror Film Festival (2025), Brooklyn Horror Film Festival (2025), Vancouver International Film Festival (2025), Calgary International Film Festival (2025), and Fantastic Fest (2025).
Described as a deeply unsettling portrait of grief and psychological unraveling, NESTING follows Pénélope (Rose-Marie Perreault), a new mother struggling with postpartum depression and the lingering trauma of her sister’s death. As sleep deprivation takes hold, the boundary between dream and reality begins to collapse, pulling her into a paranoid and increasingly dangerous spiral.
Critics have praised the film’s unnerving psychological depth, with one noting, “Nesting suggests that the horrors in a damaged mind can become reality in the blink of an eye and spiral into darkness.”
The marketing for Nesting invokes comparisons to Rosemary’s Baby, but a more fitting reference point may be Repulsion, particularly in its portrayal of a woman’s gradual psychological unravelling. Yet while echoes of both films are evident, Nesting ultimately falls well short of matching the power or sophistication of either.
Rose-Marie Perreault delivers an excellent performance as Pénélope, anchoring the film with emotional conviction, while the supporting cast consistently impresses. The direction is assured, and the subtle visual cues hinting at Pénélope’s deteriorating mental state are handled with care and intelligence.
Where the film falters, however, is in its overwhelming lack of restraint. Rather than trusting the audience to absorb and interpret Pénélope’s distress organically, the film repeatedly underlines her psychological fragility with a relentless barrage of crying infants, raised voices, and abrasive noise. The point is unmistakable: her nerves are frayed. Yet in striving to immerse the audience in her anxiety, the film risks exhausting them instead.
The incessant sound design appears intended to externalise Pénélope’s mounting tension and stress, but too often it functions as an act of transference, leaving the viewer more agitated than engaged. Rather than deepening empathy, the film’s heavy-handedness threatens to alienate, making emotional investment feel more like endurance.
Ahead of its digital release, NESTING will receive a special one-night theatrical screening event on May 26, 2026 at select Alamo Drafthouse Cinema locations nationwide, including:
Austin (South Lamar), Boston (Seaport), Chicago (Wrigleyville), Denton & Richardson (DFW), Denver (Sloans Lake), Laredo, Los Angeles (DTLA), New York (Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan, Yonkers), Raleigh, San Antonio (Park North), Mountain View, San Francisco (New Mission), Santa Clara (Valley Fair), Woodbury (Twin Cities), and Indianapolis.
Breaking Glass Pictures to Release Award-Winning Psychological Thriller NESTING on May 29, 2026