Catfight

Artist Ashley Miller Sandra Oh and housewife Veronica Salt Anne Heche are two unhappy women navigating difficult lives while the world outside grows more tense. Ashley struggles to sell her artwork, which strains her relationship with her girlfriend Lisa, and Veronica, an alcoholic, faces disdain from her husband Stanley as she mocks her son Kip’s drawing talent. Both women keep an eye on the news reports about rising tension between the United States and the Middle East, a backdrop that mirrors their own unraveling lives.

Stanley throws a party for his business partner, and Lisa the caterer ropes Ashley into helping with the preparations. Veronica comes by for a drink, and the two women recognize each other from college. What starts as awkward small talk quickly devolves into sharp barbs. Veronica is told to leave by Stanley, and she encounters Ashley in the stairwell. The encounter escalates from insults to a physical confrontation. Ashley gains the upper hand and punches Veronica in the face. When Veronica attempts to stand, she loses her balance, trips down the stairs, and slips into a coma.

Two years pass. Veronica awakens with no memory of the fight. She learns that her husband has shot himself, her son Kip died while serving in the Middle East, and her money was spent on her treatment. She moves in with her former housekeeper Donna and finds work as a maid. Ashley, now a famous artist, has a darker style inspired by the war, and her relationship with Lisa frays as they decide to start a family through a sperm donor. Veronica discovers a magazine cover featuring Ashley and grows resentful of her success. She clashes with Donna over opinions about the war, moves into a cheap hotel, and discovers Kip’s video letter to her that reveals he left school to join the Army to make her proud. The emotional weight of Kip’s choice brings Veronica to tears.

Veronica attends Ashley’s gallery opening and sees a painting that depicts her bloodied face from the earlier fight, which triggers memories. She begins destroying Ashley’s paintings, and when Ashley tries to intervene, they engage in a brutal physical struggle. Veronica overpowers Ashley, striking her with a wrench and escaping with a painting of her own face. Ashley pursues her, and the two battle with implements as the intensity deepens. Veronica delivers a decisive blow, hitting Ashley over the head with a wrench, and a falling cinder block leaves Ashley unconscious.

Two years later, Ashley wakes to discover she has lost her baby during the coma, that Lisa has left her, and that she is financially ruined as her paintings were sold to cover hospital bills. The United States has won the war on terror, but Ashley’s dark artistic style has fallen out of favor. Sally, Ashley’s former assistant, has risen to fame with cheerful blue bunny comics, while Ashley must work for her former assistant and try to restart her own painting career, only to find she cannot continue due to her injuries.

Ashley finds a bus ticket to Pennsylvania, recognizing it belongs to Veronica, who has been caring for her Aunt Charlie. Ashley arrives and plans to "destroy" Veronica, but the two discover they share unexpected connections. Veronica shows Ashley recordings made by Kip; hearing them helps her feel that her son remains with her in some way and heals some of her anger toward Ashley. Ashley is moved, but a spill destabilizes the moment, and Veronica reveals she never backed up the files. They begin fighting again, moving outside into the woods. The two women throw punches while they sob, a raw, compromised moment that Aunt Charlie watches from the window. The camera that captured their confrontation suddenly reboots, revealing it was not broken after all.