review

"Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story" explores a life remade from scratch

Published October 23, 2026 2:05PM (EDT)

Maria Bamford in "Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story" (Netflix)

Life is a circle that we begin drawing at birth and complete at death. Surely, you’ve heard this analogy before. It’s just one of the many poeticisms used to make sense of this amorphous existence. But less talked about are all the full circles that exist inside life’s larger ring: the mini revolutions we collect throughout the years — things that not only make up a life, but make that life worth living.…