Babes - Lily Rader - Can I Make It Up To You -

The scene is deceptively simple. Our protagonist (Rader) sits on the edge of a bathtub—a classic symbol of cleansing, of vulnerability. Across from her, the woman she’s hurt (played with devastating stillness by co-star Margo Schmidt) packs a small duffel bag. No yelling. No tears, at first. Just the zip of a zipper and the drip of a faucet.

If you’ve ever been the one who messed up, you’ll see yourself in her trembling hands and desperate eyes. If you’ve ever been the one who was hurt, you’ll feel the impossible weight of Schmidt’s reply.

The offense is never fully explained, and that’s the genius of it. We don’t need to know if it was a lie, a betrayal, or simply a failure to show up. All we know is that the damage is done, and the silence between them is heavier than any monologue could be. babes - lily rader - can i make it up to you

If you haven’t seen Babes yet (stop reading and go find it—I’ll wait), the film follows two young women navigating the messy, often unspoken territory between friendship and something more. Rader, who both wrote and stars in the piece, has a reputation for slicing through cinematic melodrama to get to the raw, ugly-beautiful truth of queer intimacy. With “Can I Make It Up to You,” she doesn’t just write a scene. She performs a thesis on remorse.

It’s a scene about love, yes. But more than that, it’s about the courage it takes to look at the rubble you’ve made and ask, without any guarantee of a yes: Can I try? The scene is deceptively simple

In that single gesture, Rader communicates everything: I am not asking you to fix me. I am not asking for forgiveness right now. I am asking for permission to try.

Then, Rader delivers the line that gives the short its emotional core: No yelling

On paper, it’s a cliché. It’s what you say when you break a borrowed sweater or forget an anniversary. But Rader’s delivery turns it into a prayer.