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August: Osage County

CastMeryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor, Margo Martindale, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Sam Shepard, Misty Upham
Year released2013
Spoiler alert
Blog entry

This film treats us to a multigenerational view of a dysfunctional, explosive family. Almost every member has a dysfunctional role. Other than by eliminating the rampant substance abuse and dealing with family secrets, how could you help this family?
Writer Beverly, referring to Violet: “My wife, she takes pills, sometimes a great many. Facts are my wife takes pills, and I drink... Rather than once more a vow of abstinence with my fingers crossed, I have chosen to turn my life over to a higher power...“

Beverly tells maid Johnna, ”My wife’s been diagnosed with a touch of cancer...”
”Johnna: “What pills does she take?”
Beverly: “Oh, Valium, Vicodin, Darvon, Darvocet, Percodan, Percocet, uh, Xanax for fun, Oxycontin in a pinch, and of course Dilaudid, can’t forget Dilaudid.” (0:00)

Violet takes a pill, then another. She asks her daughter Ivy, “How many was that?”
Referring to brother-in-law Charlie, “He smokes a lot of grass.”
”He smokes a lot of grass.” (0:09)

Violet’s daughter Barbara tells her husband Bill, referring to their daughter Jean, “Admire her for getting hooked at 14.”
Referring to her mother: ”She got a parakeet for some insane reason...” (0:15)

Violet tells the others, referring to Beverly, “Thought he’d gone out on a bender.” (0:18)

Barbara confronts Violet about “These... pills.”
”So it’s OK to get hooked now because you’ve got a reason.”
Violet: ”I’m not gonna get hooked on anything.” (0:22)

Beverly prepares to take his rowboat onto the lake. We see the empty boat. (0:25)

Violet, drunk, learns of Beverly’s death. (0:27)

Barbara tells Jean, ‘The day of the prom his father got drunk...” (0:29)

Her real estate agent sister Karen tells Barbara, “I just looked in the mirror, and I said moron...”
Barbara: ”Like your father drowning himself?” (0:34)

Karen’s business man fiance Steve asks Jean, “Is that pot? You smoking pot.”
”You’re a little dope smoker.” (0:37)

Bill tells Barbara, “Our kid’s trying to deal with this... madhouse you dragged her into.”
Barbara: “This madhouse is my home.”
Bill: ”Jean’s here because she’s a buffer between you and the... insanity of your mother.” (0:45)

Little Charles: “Adrenaline...”
”... and cortisol.” (0:54)

Violet, referring to Beverly: “Man was a world class alcoholic more than 50 years...” (0:55)

Violet, referring to her sister Mattie Fae: “This woman has dents in her skull from hammer blows.” (1:03)

Barbara tells Violet, “You’re a drug addict.”
Violet: ”I’m a drug... I love drug, pills, especially downers... and they never let me down.” (1:06)

Barbara flushes pills down a toilet. Karen: “Why did Dr. Burke write so many prescriptions?” (1:08)

Dr. Burke: “Chemotherapy, radiation, coupled with the overuse of pain medications... I believe you mother’s suffering from mild cognitive impairment.”
Barbara: ”Mild cognitive impairment?”
Burke: “Brain damage.”
Barbara: “A psychiatric hospital?”
Burke: “Legal guardianship...”
Barbara: ”So you’re thinking if the three of us cooperated with this commitment end around...”
”Mild cognitive impairment?” (1:09)

Barbara asks Violet, “Well don’t you think you should consider going back to a rehab center?” (1:13)

Barbara tells her sisters about “the time we checked her into the psych ward, that stunt she pulled”
Ivy: ”She’s getting clean...”
Barbara: “She smuggled Darvocet into the psych ward in her vagina.”
Ivy: “Karen, he killed himself.” (1:15)

Charlie tells Mattie Fae, “We just buried a man I loved very much.” (1:21)

Barbara asks Mattie Fae, “What, were you drunk?” (1:31)

Steve and Jean smoke marijuana. Steve: “Hey, do you want a shotgun? You don’t know what a shotgun is?”
Jean: “I know what a shotgun is.”
Steve: “No, not that kind of shotgun. You put your lips right next to mine, and you inhale while I exhale.” They do it.
Barbara, referring to Steve: “Son of a bitch is a sociopath.”
Jean tells her father, “Will you please stop freaking out?”
”I came down, smoked a little pot, just a little pot, and... everything got a little bit crazy.” (1:33)

Ivy asks Barbara, “Is Mom clean?”
Barbara: ”She’s moderately clean.”
Ivy: “Is she clean or not? I’m nervous.” (1:39)

Violet tells Barbara and Ivy, “Charlie should have known too if he hadn’t been smoking all that grass.” (1:42)

Barbara tells Violet, “If you could have stopped Daddy from killing himself...“
“Did the note say he was going to kill himself?”
Violet: ”There’s at least one reason Beverly killed himself, and that is you.” (1:47)

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