Sarah Paulson Shines as a Bright Light in the Disappointing 'Closing Night' | TIFF Review

Published Sep 19, 2026, 4:29 PM EDT

Therese Lacson is a Senior TV Editor who has been with Collider since 2021. She got started in this business over ten years ago working primarily as an interviewer and critic. At Collider, she works closely with the features team to support the writers and also ideates and develops content daily. She has covered major industry events including Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, Toronto International Film Festival, and San Diego Comic-Con. Although she reviews and covers both film and television, her focus is in television and her expertise is in fantasy and sci-fi genre shows. Her favorite shows to cover include House of the Dragon, Bridgerton, Fallout, 9-1-1, and Rivals. 

In his directorial debut, Cody Fern offers an intimate look at an actor who reunites with her family after years of estrangement in Closing Night. Stylish, emotional, and centering a powerful performance from Sarah Paulson, Fern's first feature highlights all the potential this young filmmaker has as a storyteller. Penned by both Fern and Devon Bostick, Closing Night digs deep into the life of Sandra Vale, a celebrated actor who is hit with a personal tragedy that not only derails her life but forces her to face the ghosts of her past at the worst possible time.

What is 'Closing Night' About?

Image via Metafilms

Closing Night kicks off when April (Naomi Watts) arrives in New York City, after receiving an invitation from her sister, Sandra (Paulson), to attend her latest play, a production of Bertolt Brecht and Margarete Steffin's Mother Courage. April, who is anxious and a klepto, is reluctant to attend the performance. She and her sister had a falling out years ago and in that time, they haven't spoken to each other. She visits her son, Theo (Toby Wallace), and his girlfriend, Lucy (Odessa A'zion), and suggests they skip the play and spend the time catching up. But Theo, who has been meeting with his aunt in secret, is determined to attend.

At the performance, Sandra is a powerful presence on stage, but something is wrong. She's not only struggling to remember her lines; in the middle of her performance, she collapses. Rushed to the hospital, Sandra is given a diagnosis that completely uproots her life. Faced with a disease that will slowly rob her of everything that makes her who she is, Sandra is forced to rely on her sister, who bravely steps up to help her, despite the bad blood that they share.

Sandra gets a visit from her irascible mother Diane (Dianne Wiest), and with the family finally complete, secrets from the past spill out, revealing the reason behind the schism between the sisters. Sandra and April, linked but diametrically opposed to each other, can't seem to bury the hatchet — probably because they never properly addressed their differences. The film culminates in an oddly-toned reconciliation that is both fitting from a narrative standpoint and also confounding, considering the implications behind Sandra's final decisions.

Cody Fern Makes a Messy Splash With 'Closing Night'

Image via Metafilms

Fern is probably best known for his work in front of the camera, starring in several of Ryan Murphy's TV shows like The Assassination of Gianni Versace and American Horror Story: Apocalypse. As a frequent collaborator of Murphy's, it's only natural that Fern might have picked up some tricks from the campy and bombastic showrunner. For better or worse, Closing Night has some of Murphy's telltale fingerprints on it, but rather than lean into the extremes, Fern wisely shows some restraint. The result is a slick film that feels polished when you add the talent of performers like Paulson, Wiest, and Watts.

What Fern can't seem to nail is any kind of subtlety. The biggest "twist" of the film is something you can spot a mile away, a flaw that plagues Murphy as well, and the predictability of this means that the tempo and pacing of the film end up feeling uneven. We spend much of the first half of the movie simply waiting for the revelation to come, and when it finally does, the movie takes a sharp shift away from the neuroses of the women of this family into the land of pure melodrama.

Although the production design and costuming of the film turn it into something polished, it can't hide the fact that Fern hasn't really found his footing yet as a filmmaker. As a first-time director, this is hardly a surprise. He's bolstered by the performance of his stars, but the bloated 115-minute runtime eventually reveals all the seams holding the film together.

Sarah Paulson and Naomi Watts Shine Brightly in 'Closing Night'

Image via Metafilms

Despite the flaws of the film, Paulson and Watts deliver stirring performances that keep the viewer engaged, even during the most uneven parts of the movie. The duo's sisterly dynamic feels lived in, with April's neuroses made all the worse when in the presence of her seemingly perfect but enigmatic sister. Unsurprisingly, Paulson delivers a standout performance as Sandra. Successful and acclaimed, Sandra is every inch the seasoned thespian and celebrity; she's chic, sophisticated, and sharp. Compared to her jittery sister, who looks out of place in Sandra's manicured world, it's not hard to understand April's self-consciousness.

But the beef between these two women is more than just the standard sibling rivalry; there are deep wounds there, ones that their mother, Diane, never hesitates to point out. Wiest is a titanic presence in the film, grabbing the bull by the horns in every scene she's in. Acerbic and even spiteful at times, it's easy to understand why her daughters have such a broken relationship. The scenes where the three actors get to play off of each other are by far the most magnetic to watch. It's less about the directing or the script in these moments, and more about the sheer individual presence of each of the performers.

On her own, Paulson can feel a bit overly performative at times — granted, her character is a thespian — but across from Watts, there's a raw vulnerability that shows the potential that Closing Night really has. Unfortunately, Fern never fully grasps onto that potential, separating the two characters for a large chunk of the film and meandering in scenes that feel extraneous as it slowly approaches its inevitable end. By the time the credits roll, it's clear that there might have been a very nuanced and complicated story to be told here, but Fern hasn't managed to carve out David from a chunk of marble. Far from a masterpiece, Closing Night is a decent if jumbled debut from the new filmmaker, but there's enough redeeming in the feature to warrant curiosity as to what he might present next.

Cast

• 

  Naomi Watts

  April Vale

• 

  Sandra Vale

Closing Night is a 2026 drama about celebrated actress Sandra Vale, whose preparations for a major stage performance are disrupted when her estranged sister April unexpectedly returns after 30 years. Their reunion forces the sisters to confront buried family tensions and a painful shared history as opening night approaches.

Pros & Cons

• Sarah Paulson and Naomi Watts have strong on-screen chemistry as sisters, delivering some of the film's best scenes.
• Dianne Wiest is as sharp as ever and plays a fittingly vicious and critical matriarch.

• Cody Fern's direction lacks a distinct voice that makes the film standout from the typical melodrama fare.
• 'Closing Night' runs on for a bit too long, losing steam as it heads toward its conclusion.
• Odessa A'zion never gets a chance to truly shine, while Wallace seems to merely exist for the plot to move forward.