When we first meet Claire (Jennifer Aniston), she’s mocking a woman’s suicide during a support group for sufferers of chronic pain. It’s one of those classic indie-film opening scenes, an over-the-top warning to viewers that the protagonist is going to be highly unlikable, at least for a while. As Claire digs into the lurid details of Nina’s (Anna Kendrick) suicide, her expression is almost hidden from the camera by a thick curtain of hair. We can see her face is nearly encircled by long scars. Her mouth is a scowl, and the trapezoidal shape of her jawline only makes her look more like a bully. Aniston, you realize, is going for it. She’s setting vanity aside to paint a portrait of a loathsome woman…
