The Debut does something not many films do: it stars a woman over 50 without making a big deal about her age.

Julianne Moore plays Mona, an unassuming housewife who feels ignored, taken for granted, and belittled. Tired of being invisible, she auditions for a local play.

Enter Paul Giamatti’s Jerry, the play’s director. What results is incendiary.

Set in New Jersey, The Debut is part drama, part musical, and part fairy tale. The film is directed by Jesse Eisenberg, perhaps best known to some for his Oscar-nominated performance as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. It is his third feature film as a director and his second time working with Julianne Moore; she starred in his 2022 directorial debut, When You Finish Saving the World, which opened Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival that year.

The Debut officially opened the 45th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) on Thursday.

VIFF executive director Kyle Fostner describes the film as funny while being tense and challenging.

“There’s a kind of absurdist quality to it, and there’s a nice approachability,” he said.

“But being an A24 film, it still has an edge to it.”

Fostner said he and the festival’s director of programming spent considerable time deciding which film should open the festival.

Ultimately, he said, The Debut “just felt like the right note to open the festival on.”

“It’s a great film,” he said. “Julianne Moore is incredible in it, so I highly recommend seeing her performance.”

In addition to opening the festival, The Debut plays at the Park Theatre on Oct. 2. It is set for a wide release in theatres across Canada on Dec. 18.

VIFF runs from Oct. 1 to Oct. 11.