Dr. Monica: A Soap Opera That Actually Bites

Is it worth your time?

If you like movies where people stand in fancy living rooms and make life-altering decisions while wearing incredible silk gowns, then yes. It’s a total soap opera. If you need your dramas to be subtle or realistic, you’re going to hate the heavy-handed irony of it all.

Kay Francis is just luminous here. She plays Monica with this strange, icy grace that almost hides how completely unhinged the situation is. She’s an obstetrician who can’t have kids of her own, which is basically the movie’s way of saying, "Look how much irony we can fit into one script."

The whole thing turns on this one revelation—that the baby she’s delivering belongs to her husband. It’s the kind of plot that would make for a great episode of a 1930s radio show, but here it’s treated with this weird, somber weight.

There’s a scene where she just stares at a patient, and you can practically hear the gears turning in her head. It’s not great acting in the traditional sense, but it’s *compelling*. It feels like she’s trying to hold the whole movie together with just her posture.

The pacing is… well, it’s fast. Maybe a little too fast. The characters seem to move from "I love my life" to "everything is ruined" in about three minutes flat. It’s almost funny how quickly they pivot.

It definitely lacks the nuance you might find in something like Beauty for Sale, but it’s got a weird energy that keeps you watching. You kind of want to look away from the drama, but you can’t.

Also, the doctor-patient confidentiality in this film? Non-existent. They treat HIPAA like a suggestion. It’s wild.

• That one staircase shot where someone looks like they’re about to trip.
• The way Kay Francis handles a cigarette like it’s a weapon.
• The side characters mostly exist just to look shocked in the background.

It’s not perfect. Sometimes the dialogue sounds like it was written by someone who had only ever heard of human emotions secondhand. But honestly? I’ve seen much worse.

It doesn’t hit as hard as the gut-wrenching stuff in The Last Man, but it’s a decent way to spend an hour if you’re in the mood for some vintage melodrama.

It’s a bit of a relic, sure. But it’s a shiny, well-lit relic that knows exactly how to manipulate your feelings. Can't really complain about that.