When first seeing the trailor for this movie, I thought it had so many amazing actors that I had to see it. Ewan McGregor, Julia Roberts, and Meryl Streep are just a few to mention. My second thought was that this would be a surface level comedy about the joys of a rather quirky family with an unbearable mother. I was so very wrong.
Julia Roberts' character is needed to return to her home town in the south when her father goes missing. Her life is in a complicated state as her husband and her are separated, but her mother has no idea (or so she thinks). Her husband, daughter, and her muster the courage to pretend life is just dandy in order to be there for her mother and hopefully find her father.
After meeting her mother, you already assume the father most likely just had to get away for awhile. His wife, after all, is as impossible as they come. She has cancer of the mouth, smokes, and is addicted to prescription medication. Not to mention she is dramatic, offensive, loud, self imposed, and so many other terrible characteristics. But no, Dad didn't go for a walk because he couldn't take her anymore. He killed himself.
Her daughters are left to pick up the pieces and do at times. Her medication was flushed.....for the time being. As time passes you begin to see the differences among the three daughters. There is Julia, the favorite who holds the mother together and runs the show, the black sheep sister who can't please mom no matter what she does, and the middle sister who avoids it all by never coming around and is oblivious to the fact that the three aren't really connected as sisters should be.
Secrets start to reveal themselves and at risk of spoiling this for you, you just need to see it. There are so many different complexities in this family that you never see coming. Your jaw will drop, I promise you.
Julia's character is also dealing with her own issues of an ending marriage. She eventually discovers that she is becoming everything that she despises about her mother. The question is, what does she do about it? You'll just have to see for yourself, but I do promise you will not be dissapointed.
The overall themes are what I found the most powerful in this film. We all have back stories. Some of us have strong family foundations with love and support while others have nothing but disfunction and turmoil. The important thing to remember that it does not define us. We all have choices to make regarding what kind of people we want to be. Choosing wisely will have long lasting benefits whereas the opposite of that will leave us in the same situation as Julia's mother. Sad, dying, and alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment