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)