Afternoon Delight: See The Short Film That Inspired Showtime Breakout ‘SMILF’

What better way to prepare for the fast-approaching weekend than by indulging in the some of the Internet’s most well-done web content? Take advantage of your lunch break and treat yourself to Afternoon Delight, Decider’s carefully curated picks of the best short-form content available on the world wide web. This week we’re spotlighting SMILF – no, not the show, but Frankie Shaw‘s short film that wound up serving as a basis for the Showtime series.

Written and directed by Shaw, Shaw plays the same character  as she does on the series – Bridgette Bird, a smart single mom. After getting spooked by an article about the way new mothers’ bodies change, she texts former fling Dan (Thomas Middleditch) and asks him to come over for sex. He does shortly thereafter, and she explains that she needs him to tell her if her “vagina has been blown out” since having her son. What ensues is obviously awkward, not helped by the fact that Bridgette is covered in red marker denoting where she’d like to get cosmetic surgery done. Evidently, motherhood has changed Bridgette a lot more than she might want to admit – and that’s not a bad thing.

While series like Girls and Fleabag have perfected the art of the awkward sex scene, SMILF does something different. There’s an added layer of complexity present to Bridgette’s sexuality, a unique sense of simultaneous tenacity and familiar fear that she boasts when it comes time to do the deed. She’s also unabashedly herself, and she isn’t there to be a puppet for Dan – in this instance, she’s trying to use him to figure things out for herself. Things may not go the way she planned, but don’t feel sorry for Bridgette. She’s just figuring it all out like the rest of us. And that’s what makes SMILF so damn engaging.

The 8-minute film does a lot in a short amount of time, and that’s a testament to Shaw as an artist. Perhaps drawing from her own experience as a single mother, the semi-autobiographical flair present makes Bridgette both human and entertaining. SMILF first premiered at Sundance back in 2015 and took home the Jury Prize for U.S. Fiction, and it’s not hard to see why. There aren’t crazy bells and whistles or attempts to win over an audience; it’s raw, sincere, and confident, gifting us with a real woman with real wants, needs, and fears. We could use a few more SMILFs in the world.

Where to Stream SMILF