Montreal Gazette

EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER

Superb performanc­es and heartbreak­ing details elevate story of a family in crisis

- CHRIS KNIGHT cknight@postmedia.com Twitter.com/chrisknigh­tfilm

WHAT THEY HAD

★★★ 1/2 out of five

Cast: Hilary Swank, Michael Shannon, Robert Forster, Blythe Danner Director: Elizabeth Chomko Duration: 1h40m

“We need to talk about mom.” That’s the narrative fulcrum wielded by Chicago-raised actor and now first-time writer/director Elizabeth Chomko, who digs deep into her personal history for this story of a family dealing with dementia. But a strong screenplay and some top-notch talent mean we get more than one character’s point of view. Chomko’s sympathies are liberally dispensed.

The story kicks off as Ruth (Blythe Danner), suffering from worsening dementia, wanders from her Chicago home on a winter’s night. Husband Burt (Rob-

ert Forster), goes in search and calls son Nick (Michael Shannon), to help. Nick’s phone rings with a red-alert klaxon when it’s his father calling; they clearly don’t have many casual chats.

Nick in turn contacts his sister, Bridget (Hilary Swank), who flies in from California with her troubled university-age daughter (Taissa Farmiga). But as often happens when grown siblings get together, old childish habits resurface, enacted with adult strength and consequenc­es.

You’ve seen these types before; heck, you probably are one of them, and are related to one or two more. Bridget is the bridgebuil­der and peacekeepe­r of the family, while Burt is a gruff pragmatist, whose favourite phrase is that there are “no bells and whistles” in romance. He’s also fond of: “You know what your problem is?”

Nick has picked up more than

a little of that style, which is why father and son clash like electrical­ly charged particles. At one point they go several rounds over whether Nick is a bar-owner or a bartender. Truth is he’s both.

Almost lost amid the fireworks is Ruth, whom Danner plays just about perfectly; shaky and withdrawn. The coping technique of the addled is often to shrug or laugh off their mistakes, even when they’re socially awkward; in a scene we hear about but don’t see, Ruth briefly mistakes her son for an old boyfriend.

Nick is adamant that his mom be placed in a facility that can care for dementia patients. (In a cruel irony, we learn that she spent 30 years working in nursing homes.) Burt has it in his head that they’ll move to Florida, where at least she won’t freeze if she takes off in the middle of the night. Bridget desperatel­y searches for middle ground, at one point installing new locks to keep Ruth inside.

Movies about dementia are nothing new; think of Julianne Moore in Still Alice, Sarah Polley’s

Away From Her, Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Savages and, if you must, The Notebook. Where Chomko’s script excels is the way it sketches out the family dynamic and all its ever-moving, ever-changing clockwork parts. Bridget’s marriage is rocky, Nick’s relationsh­ip even more so; it’s a case of the messed-up leading the messedup.

The production leans more heavily than it needs to on

establishi­ng shots of Chicago and sepia-toned images of Ruth and Burt in their younger days. But it also features some spot-on images that may break your heart. When Bridget looks beneath her parents’ Christmas tree, for instance, she sees two presents, one from Ruth to Burt, the other from Burt to Ruth. Both tags are written in her father’s hand.

 ?? PHOTOS: BLEECKER STREET ?? Hilary Swank, Blythe Danner and Taissa Farmiga star in Elizabeth Chomko’s What They Had — the story of a family confrontin­g the decline and loss of a mother.
PHOTOS: BLEECKER STREET Hilary Swank, Blythe Danner and Taissa Farmiga star in Elizabeth Chomko’s What They Had — the story of a family confrontin­g the decline and loss of a mother.
 ??  ?? Hilary Swank and Michael Shannon play troubled siblings in the midst of a family crisis in the searing What They Had.
Hilary Swank and Michael Shannon play troubled siblings in the midst of a family crisis in the searing What They Had.

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