‘Scam or real?’: Bad Behaviour’s Alice Englert on mothers, Medusa and meditation retreats

Alice Englert, left, and Jennifer Connolly in Bad Behaviour. Englert’s mother, Jane Campion, has loomed large over the film’s release but rather than ignore it, Englert plays with it, with Campion getting a cute cameo. Photograph: Matt Henley

Depending on your level of cynicism, your scam alarm bells may sound from the first pan flute notes that open Bad Behaviour.

Inspired by her time at meditation retreats, Australian actor Alice Englert’s debut directorial feature – which she also wrote and stars in – is filled with desperate figures who will try anything for inner peace.