Chapter thirty-two: August: Osage County

In a short explanation, this movie is the story of a dysfunctional countryside family with many, many, many secrets.

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In a longer explanation, (which I'm sure is what you came here for,) Violet Weston (Meryl) is a pill popper battling oral cancer - an unidealistic, unfortunate mesh of a woman. Now, to add to that title, she's also a widow following her husband's suicidal lakeside death. So, Violet's three daughters Barbara, (Julia Roberts) Ivy, (Julianne Nicholson) and Karen (Juliette Lewis) are in Osage County. Karen's new fiancé, Barbra's daughter and estranged husband, Violet's sister Mattie Fae and her husband and son accompany them and are all visiting for the weekend in the house the girls grew up in during their father's funeral in the sweltering August heat.

In the two day span, Violet has some choice words and opinions to share with the daughters that she probably shouldn't, but her dependent state, mixed with the fact that she is grieving, gives her very little filter at all. This causes tempers to flare, and daunting secrets to spill around the household for the majority of the family's time together. Truly, that's the main synopsis of the movie. Yet, in the ultimate end, they are family, so it isn't like they argue throughout the whole duration of the movie. In other words, there are moments of closeness and gabbing, but the arguments are what uncover the establishment of their relationship more or less.

The two who are most affected by this period together are certainly Barbara and Violet. I think this is due to the fact that after the visit, both of them are left to defend themselves because they both are without a spouse by the weekend's end. This hits each one of them pretty hard, but they handle the situation differently. Barbara, fortunately, has newfound hope since she and her husband were only waiting for the right time to get divorced. But, for Violet, whose disease and addiction are simultaneously crippling her as is, it'll be difficult to find her footing again without her husband's help; that is how the movie ends. It's rather abrupt I think, but I guess I just thought that it would end happily and it didn't. When everyone has left the house, Violet is left alone, and she doesn't quite know where to begin or what to do with herself. It's sad, particularly because it isn't until her family is gone that there is a real glimpse of the genuine emotions she's been feeling, because she's been hiding them all weekend long behind insults and the oversized sunglasses which she wears continuously.

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I liked the movie. It's more dramatic than I assumed it would be, but that doesn't make it any less good. Plus, those are the types of movies that get you to think. For me, I am plainly just thankful that my gatherings with family members aren't in any way sporadically hostile like this one.

As always, thank you for the entertainment, Meryl.