Renata Klein

Renata Klein is a high-powered tech executive and fiercely protective mother in Monterey, California, whose daughter Amabella becomes entangled in a schoolyard bullying incident. Polished, commanding, and quick to anger when she feels her family threatened, Renata treats motherhood like another arena to dominate, and she does not apologize for wanting to win.

Laura Dern plays Renata's rage as something almost operatic, all clenched jaw and blazing eyes, but she never lets the character curdle into caricature. Underneath the tailored blazers and boardroom fury is real terror about being underestimated, and Dern finds the wounded person inside the warrior, which is why every outburst lands as funny and true at once.