Cringe-inducing moments feature heavily in much millennial romantic comedy. These stories tend to centre women diminishing themselves in relationships with men and, rather than trying to make audiences swoon, they often include scenes that inspire repulsion, disapproval or distaste.
Think of Hannah Horvath’s boyfriend Adam peeing on her in the shower in Girls. Or the way the title character of Fleabag inspires men to incongruous, often hammy, romanticism by letting them use her sexually. Such scenes had me watching through the gaps between my fingers.
