This is
another film that should technically come with a disclaimer. I definitely knew
not to expect a light hearted family comedy when I started watching it (and
even if you have done no research at all, this fact becomes blatantly obvious under
ten minutes into the film) but blimey, I did NOT expect it to hit me like a
sledgehammer. Not like this. Those who know how close I am to my mother and
grandmother can easily put two and two together to figure out that this was not
easy watching for me personally but I think the problem is pretty universal.
This is a family portrait. A frighteningly realistic one of what goes on at the
other end of the `family` spectrum, when all is not rose-tinted Hollywood
bliss.
Barbara
(Julia Roberts), Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) and Karen Weston (Juliette Lewis) are
three sisters. Ivy lives close to their parents in Osage County, the delegated
family member who takes care of the parents while the other two sisters have, to
all intents and purposes, made a dash for it, living their own lives far, far
away. God knows there is stuff to run away from. The matriarch of the family
Violet (Meryl Streep) is not the easiest person to get on with by any stretch
of the imagination, so much so that she has pushed her husband Beverly (Sam
Shepard) to his wits end. So when tragedy forces all these strong and disparate
people with years of unspoken grudges to bear under the same roof, nobody can
quite predict what the result is going to be or who, if any of them, is going
to get out of this ruthless melee emotionally intact…
This film
is based on a play by Tracy Letts and I have no shadow of a doubt that she had first-hand
knowledge of the workings of a problem family. I mean at least one. I mean I
say that, but hand on heart, how many families can really aspire to what the
mainstream holds up as `perfect`. At one point in the film Ivy speaks of how
she has lost faith in the whole concept of sisterly love. `Just random bunches
of cells that are genetically connected` is how she describes herself and her
sisters. I do see her point. I don`t see things quite as darkly as all that,
but I do see her point. It is a tough lesson to learn – and not all of us end
up learning it – but the fact is, in my experience of the world, that just
because you have family ties with someone it doesn`t necessarily mean you get
along. It doesn`t even mean you like each other. In fact, if for whatever
reason you turn out to be not very compatible as people, your relationship may
well turn into a special kind of seething black pit of resentment that you only
see between relatives. This usually has its roots in the fact that despite, for
whatever reason, you don`t like or don`t get along with the person you are
forced together, time and again, sometimes for decades… I mean there can be
upsides to this kind of non-compatibility, God knows I have my own share of
difficult relations but this has, for the most part, taught me patience. It has
given me the ability to look more effectively for the good in people. Because
when you are `lumped together` with a group of people, it is actually quite
rare that you are able to have a relationship with them spanning decades or
lifetimes and be unable to see the good in them at all. Because let us
remember, it is very rare indeed that a person has no good in them at all… It
all depends on how willing we are to look for it. That`s what makes families so
extraordinary for me. It can well be that you are like chalk and cheese, even
with your closest relations, but somehow you make it work… Except when you
can`t…
Tracey
Letts finds so many little things to touch on surrounding this kind of
difficult situation. She touches on how difficult it is to get used to the
concept of caring for your parents… Violet`s mental decline is especially hard
to watch, although it is hinted out that she has never been the easiest of
people to live with. Then there is Ivy, the one who got left behind and
couldn`t leave her parents to fend for themselves… The line between taking
responsibility for your family members and sacrificing your own life is such a
fine one sometimes and taking a step either way is more painful than words can
express… It is this pain the August : Osage County captures so well…
So yes.
August: Osage County is about families. The real deal. Warts and all. Good
times and bad. It is definitely not a feel good movie, nor is it for the faint
of heart. But I reckon, if we watch it with honesty, many of us, if not all of
us, will find something from our own families in there somewhere.
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