Nathalie Davidson
Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in August: Osage County |
August: Osage County
is the film adaptation of a Pulitzer Prize and Tony winning play by Tracy Letts.
But, this isn’t the reason why my mom and I wanted to watch August: Osage County. Over winter break
while I was home from college, she and I made a pact to watch all of the
Academy Award nominees for Best Picture. We had a lot of time on our hands in
January. My mom, who is normally full of moxie and always on the go, had been
suffering from inexplicable headaches. We spent most of our time between hospital
visits quietly sitting on the couch or going to the movies. We began our
cinematic journey with The Wolf of Wall
Street, which is not the ideal film for anyone feeling ill, but we had to
keep our promise. We continued with Her,
American Hustle, Captain Phillips, and although not nominated for Best Picture, August: Osage County. As avid Meryl
Streep fans, we were excited to see her in all her Academy Award nominated
glory.
August: Osage County
is the story of a dysfunctional family brought together by the disappearance,
and eventual death, of patriarch Beverly Weston, played by Sam Shepard. Meryl
Streep plays his wife, Violet Weston, a doped up, violent woman who suffers
from mouth cancer. Her venomous words spread anger and hate throughout the
family members. Unlike other nominated movies, Osage County does not rely on action to move the plot forward.
Conversations and horrifying revelations pile on top of each other, leaving
audience members aghast and exhausted by the end of the film. My mother and I
had plans to sneak into another movie theater to watch Dallas Buyer’s Club, but by its end, Osage County had worn us out.
Family spats and arguments comprise most of the film. The
actors are constrained to the Weston home in the middle of Oklahoma, leaving
moviegoers feeling claustrophobic. In the play, the actors have the space of
the stage to move and speak. The camera often hones in on Meryl Streep at
points of tension and for much of the film, we’re constrained to close-ups of
family members during arguments. Every once in a while, during these tense
arguments, I would notice my mother checking her phone. I glared at her to stop
texting her friends and she shrugged her shoulders at me. Images of fields and
wide-open spaces (or texting) are the only relief we get from the Weston
family. Without this respite, we’re stuck with no space to breathe in the
uncomfortably tense home. Parts of August:
Osage County are so uncomfortable that you have to look away.
After the film ended, my mom and I briefly discussed the
movie. One of the scenes we found most interesting was when Violet Weston
shares a sad and tragic childhood story with her three daughters played by
Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, and Juliette Lewis. Violet reveals that her
mother was, although hard to believe, even crueler of a mother than she
currently is. Violet is a selfish woman and her pleasure in disguising her
insults as merely "truth tellings" is nothing short of cruel. Yet in
this scene, we come to understand that Violet's upbringing and her difficult
relationship with her mother are responsible for this behavior. Meryl Streep’s
performance makes us see that though Violet’s actions are cruel, Violet is not
a fundamentally cruel person, and we begin to feel empathic towards this
complicated family. Violet tells a story about her first childhood crush and
wanting a pair of boots similar to his. She begged her mother for the boots and
her mother hinted that perhaps Violet would be receiving boots for Christmas.
On Christmas morning, Violet ran to unwrap her present only to discover that
the boots she so coveted were not there but, instead, broken men’s work boots
caked with mud and feces. In this sad revelation, the daughters respond with
cold attitudes, offering their dying mother no sympathy. Barbara, the oldest
daughter, coolly asks, “Is that the end of the story?”
The scene particularly moved my mother, who had also lost
her mother to cancer. When you have such a close relationship to your family,
it's hard to imagine mistreating your loved ones like Barbara abuses her mother
and vice versa. Out of the three sisters, Barbara, played by Julia Roberts, has
the most difficult relationship with her mother. Eventually, Barbara’s
unfaithful husband Bill, played by lackluster Ewan McGregor, leaves her for
similar reasons Beverley Weston left Violet. Much like her mother, Barbara is
now left alone in the house in Oklahoma. The Weston women are simply too cold
and too mean. They cannot hold on to their loved ones because of their rough
edges that while some have tried, no one has managed to soften.
Throughout the film, I kept on sneaking glances at my mother
to watch her reactions. Countless times I’ve heard stories about my own
grandmother who passed away from cancer. My grandmother loved going to the movies.
Until my mother started working, my grandmother did not have enough money or
time to enjoy films. As soon as she had enough money, my mother began taking my
grandmother to the movies. Mother daughter movie dates became a tradition. Within
the stories my mother tells me about my grandmother, she also tells me which
movies my grandmother would have liked. As a woman who unfortunately suffered
verbal abuse from her husband, August:
Osage County would have hit a little too close to home. The uncomfortable
experience of watching family members berate each other is difficult to watch
in anyway situation but I cannot imagine watching the movie and having
experienced similar abuse from a family member.
I had a strong urge to hug my mom at the end of the film. While
Barbara and Violet’s relationship is sick and twisted, with both women
insulting each other and their family, they are still mother and daughter.
There’s a sensation of something missing in this film, and that might be what
makes it a remarkable experience. The sad relationship between Violet and
Barbara struck a nerve in both of us. Regardless of their unhealthy
relationship, family is family.
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