Piercingly poignant portrait of a family under pressure ...
ANYONE who has lost a relative to dementia will find plenty of common ground with the family depicted in this piercingly well-observed domestic drama, an impressive debut feature by writerdirector Elizabeth Chomko.
Hilary Swank and Michael Shannon play Bridget and Nick, the middle- aged children of Ruth (Blythe Danner), who at the start of the film has gone walkabout again, who knows where, from her home in Chicago.
It is Christmas Eve and perishing outside. Bridget arrives from California to help with the search, along with her college- age daughter and, to the irritation of her brother, lasting powers of attorney.
Soon, their mother turns up. But the relief of finding her is swiftly supplanted by squabbles over what to do with her next. Nick has found a suitable care home. Ruth’s devoted but grumpy husband Bert ( Robert Forster) will not countenance the idea. Bridget isn’t sure whether it’s a good plan or not.
For some, this might seem too close to home. Don’t we go to the cinema for a dose of escapism, not a two-hour gaze into a mirror?
Well, yes and no. What They Had is so smartly written and strongly acted that if you’re at all familiar with this predicament, it might well be comforting, a kind of balm of shared sorrow. Besides, there’s
much more to this film than a dementia storyline, as Ruth’s decline forces both her children to contemplate their own lives.
Bridget is unhappy within her apparently gilded marriage, and can’t seem to communicate with her daughter any more.
Nick owns a bar, but feels he hasn’t lived up to his father’s expectations. Catholic guilt of one sort or another weighs on them all. Few films about that unique yet universal phenomenon, the family dynamic, are as good as this one.