When Is the Word 'Dyke' Appropriate?

We first fell for Desiree Akhavan for The Slope, a web series centered around two "superficial, homophobic lesbians," that she created with Ingrid Jungermann. After the duo pursued their own separate creative paths (Jungermann created spinoff F to 7th), Akhavan focused on writing, directing, producing, and starring in Appropriate Behavior. The film is about a bisexual Persian-American -- which Armond White calls a "comic breakthrough" and in the vein of Woody Allen and John Waters from a female perspective -- called the film her modern-day Annie Hall when we spoke to her during the filming of the feature in Brooklyn in 2013.

Watch this exclusive clip from the film, in which Akhavan's character Shirin meets her girlfriend Maxine (Rebecca Henderson) at a New Year's Eve party and the complicated semantics around the casual use of the word "dyke."

Appropriate Behavioropens in select cinemas Jan. 16.