BUST MAGAZINE: Brooke Berman on “Ramona at Midlife”: Reinvention, Patti Smith, & Finding Freedom at Forty

In her feature debut, Ramona at Midlife which launches across leading digital streaming platforms on February 11th, playwright-turned-filmmaker Brooke Berman crafts a bittersweet yet hilarious exploration of reinvention and self-acceptance. With a stellar ensemble cast, including Alysia Reiner (Ms. Marvel), Joel De La Fuente (The Man in the High Castle), and April Matthis (New Amsterdam), the dark comedy follows Ramona, a former literary “It Girl” turned single mom, whose less-than-glamorous present becomes fodder for a hot filmmaker’s latest project. Through the chaos, Ramona learns to embrace her messy, imperfect life and redefine what it means to be in her prime. Berman discusses her inspirations, creative process, and why stories about women over 40 are more vital than ever. But first, see the film’s exclusive trailer here https://www.ramonaatmidlife.com/

What inspired you to tell this story at this moment in your career? 
BERMAN: ”Ramona at Midlife is the story of a working mother making room for herself, a coming-of-age in middle age. It is the story of the sacrifices women artists make, the men who take us for granted, and the politics of a female artist laying claim to her own narrative. Ramona embraces the imperfection of her life, the glory and the mess, acknowledging that maybe this is winning. In the movie, a former writer discovers that her life story has wound up as the subject of a famous director’s new movie. And it really wakes her up to the regrets and promises of her old self and old life.”

The film is described as a love letter to Patti Smith. How does her influence manifest in the story or the character of Ramona? BERMAN: “Patti Smith has spoken eloquently about the years she spent raising her two kids in Michigan. She says that those years ‘saved her as an artist.’ I found her words inspiring when I was sitting on playgrounds with my son or taking him to the local library for story hour. I wanted to know how I could be both an artist and a mother at the same time; Patti Smith seemed to know the answers! My family is from Detroit and after my son was born, we’d take an annual pilgrimage to visit my grandmother, Ida. Dear Patti Smith, I’d think to myself while son and grandmother were napping, How did you keep your identity as an artist intact?”

How did your background as a playwright shape your approach to directing?
BERMAN: “I direct like a writer. I approach story through character and how each story beat feels internally for each character. Many of the directors I’ve met (and trained at NYU, where I teach) think in picture first, story second. I’m the reverse. Truthfully, my real love is working with actors. I started out as an actor, writing for myself and my friends. As a playwright, the most galvanizing force is the promise of hearing pages read aloud. I like to joke that half the reason I write anything is so that I can get into a room with other people. Directing emerged from that.”

The cast features an ensemble of talented New York stage and screen actors. How did you go about assembling this group?
BERMAN: “I wrote the role of Ramona for my dear friend Yvonne Woods. Yvonne and I met in grad school—she’s like a muse to me. In many ways, we were the girls that Ramona and her friends were, staying out late, making art, going dancing, falling in love and getting hurt and making more art. I wrote the character of Mansbach, the director who appropriates Ramona’s life story, for another dear friend from Juilliard, Rob Beitzel. I wrote a day role for my high school soulmate Jamie Harrold. I wrote Imani hoping the extraordinary April Matthis would do it, and she did.”

Music plays a big role in the film. Can you talk about curating the soundtrack?
BERMAN: “Every boy I ever loved in the 90s and early 00s loved Liz Mitchell’s band Ida. I was destined to fall in love with her music too. When writing the first draft of Ramona, I had a vision of Liz Mitchell and heard her music in my head. I made a playlist full of Ida, You Are My Flower and Patti Smith and played it on repeat through the rest of the writing process. Then, during post, my music supervisor Rob Kaplowitz and I realized we were lacking a very specific tone—the punk rock howl that punctuates Ramona’s internal conflict. Producer Gil introduced us to GRLWood! We need that howl or scream to get to the other side of midlife reinvention!”

What message do you hope audiences take away from Ramona at Midlife?
BERMAN: “If we feel sidelined, we must center our own story. And if we feel invisible, we must commit to seeing ourselves. By seeing ourselves, I mean seeing clearly and accurately, seeing and fully embracing who we are now. For midlife women, we become our best selves at the very moment the culture has decided we’re irrelevant.”
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With Ramona at Midlife, Brooke Berman delivers a poignant, unapologetically honest look at the complexities of middle age, motherhood, and artistic reinvention. By challenging cultural narratives about women over 40, she offers a story that is as empowering as it is entertaining. Bold, raw, and darkly funny, the film reminds us that reinvention is not only possible—it’s essential.