Un été à Osage County

Though nearly 40 minutes of Tracy Lett's Pulitzer Prize winning dramedy have been shaved for the screen version, "August: Osage County" still manages to deliver on the towering play's hearty laughs, gasp inducing shocks, and well earned tears.

While it is hardly the best adaptation of a play to a film, as much of the film still retains it's indoor, staging setting, it is boosted by some sterling performances of actors at the top of their craft. Chris Cooper and Margo Martindale are stellar, playing off each other with deft and precise timing. Julia Roberts has not had this good of a role in... ever, and she mostly delivers. Julianne Nicholson is both quiet yet fiercely determined as middle daughter Ivy. Sam Sheppard is amazing in the even more truncated role of the Weston family patriarch who goes missing, and Misty Upham is so good with so little to say as the young Indian woman, Johnna, tossed into a family in turmoil.

Of course the turmoil is led by the Medea-of-the-Midwest, Violet, played for every ounce by Meryl Streep in one of her most indelible performances ever. While viewers will surely be talking about the "infamous" post funeral dinner scene, the price of admission should be had for Streep's monologue late into the "second act," where she sits with her daughters on a swing set and discusses the worst Christmas ever: an acting class with the full gamut of emotion.

Viewers may be equally divided by spending 130 minutes with such unhappy people, but there are plenty of dark laughs in Letts' screenplay to alleviate the tension. And with actors these good interpreting the parts, "August: Osage County" is easier to swallow than some awkward family dinners we've all had to attend at some point in our lives.

I actually enjoyed this movie version better than the way over-praised stage play it is based on. Saw the play at the National Theatre with most of the original New York cast and found it obvious and sit-com my. Oddly the film which by the way has lost all the laughs the play engendered, presents a much more serious and grim portrait. Meryl the magnificent is not so magnificent in this though she at times grasps the inner feeling of the mother. Unfortunately, she also tends to go way over the top a few too many times. Julia Roberts has been directed in a more angry and vindictive manner than the original Tony winning actress I saw on stage. I always love Julia but this is not her most pleasant role. The humor has been left on the stage and not made its way to the screen. At least the film avoids the glib, "oh, look at me, I am so clever" feeling of the play.

Granted, I wouldn't last five minutes with this bunch. But having grown up with people not unlike this, I found the parrying and thrusting to be quite real. These characters are all inflicted with the same disease; they need love and drill for it, but they are incapable of letting go of their submerged self-hatred and continue to bring each other down. If you can get past that, you can sit and watch the disaster happen and appreciate some really intense performances. Black comedy is not "funny" the way that farce or physical comedy are. Black comedy draws its strength from seeing our lives as absurd and unfulfilled and still going on. Sartre thought that we all had had a terrible joke pulled on us. If we live in this septic tank, bless us. If we can rise above it, bless us too. The dialogue is real, the awful failure to express love and respect is well presented, painful as it may be. While this was not a pleasant experience, I could not take my eyes off the principles. I think about this movie all the time which means it must have got to me.

I've never seen the play on which this film is based so in a way it was good to come to this film really knowing nothing more than "people are saying this is good so maybe I should go see it". The plot sees a deeply dysfunctional family of strong-willed and vitriolic women coming back together in the wake of a family tragedy. Resentment, past hurts, bitterness and vitriol are the underlying themes as the family sits around the dinner table. I shan't say too much more than that – not because the plot is best left unknown (although it is) but more because there really isn't too much more actual plot to worry about and instead the film is more about the characters and a study of the family.

In some ways this is a bad thing and it does make the film feel long and rather lacking in a narrative drive. I can understand why many have found it dull and low on direction and focus but for me personally I thought that the strength brought about by this approach was just about enough to overcome the weaknesses inherent in it. That strength is simply in the way that it takes a very talented group of actresses, puts them together and gives them some really strong scenes to get their teeth into. Additionally, and I don't mean to be rude, but this group is of an age which Hollywood casting agents generally starts forgetting exists due to their age. As a result of this the film almost always engages in the moment or in any specific scene as we see instantly recognizable characters lash out at each other, playing out old patterns of hurt in a way that we are able to recognize them as "old patterns" even though we as viewers are here for the first time. So as a collection of scenes, the film is almost always working well – it is just when it has to come together that it doesn't do quite as well.

Despite this it is great to watch the cast go at it. Streep is great as usual and is utterly convincing as someone so engrained in patterns of behavior and carrying so much pain in her that it has affected everything – OK the cancer and the "eating pain" stuff may make it a bit too obvious, but even still she is good at what she has to do. Roberts is not quite on that level here but is still very strong while Nicholson and Lewis do well with big supporting characters. Martindale may not be as big a name (or role) but those that watch Justified already know she has presence and she holds her own here really well. The male cast are very much second fiddle but there are still good turns throughout from Cooper, Shepard, Cumberbatch, Mulroney and McGregor. The risk is that the cast feels too heavy with stars, but they are all so convincing that once they had been on screen for a little, I was more focused on the character than the career.

August Osage County is one of many films getting hyped up around the awards period and as with many films it is not as perfectly brilliant as you'll be told it is. The narrative does move but the film always seems happiest when it is just sitting and letting the family be themselves and as a result it does move slowly and perhaps the story lacks real impact. However, just as the film is happy, so are the cast and the strong individual scenes give plenty for the cast to work with, and they return the favor with a really strong ensemble feel that is engaging and convincingly laced with hurt and anger – and it is this that makes the film strong and worth a look.

I saw the Broadway production with Estelle Parsons (Violet); John Cullum (Beverly); and Elizabeth Ashley (Mattie Fae) in 2008. I had read the play prior so I knew the surprises but it didn't take away from the play. The film does justice to the story even with forty minutes edited out of time. The film casting here is perfect but I wonder what the original cast would have added to the film adaptation. While Meryl and Julia earned their nominations, I felt that Deanna Dunagan and Amy Morton deserved their chance on the big screen as Violet and Barbara. Margo Martindale did a fine job as Mattie Fae but Rondi Reed would have been the original. While the film stays true to the story, Meryl is believable as the toxic Violet Weston. Julia Roberts has matured as an actress and can stand in a scene with Streep or anybody else. The film and stage version is not for immature audiences as the writer touches on sensitive subjects. The stage production featured a three story set where it can be difficult for a community theater. The film doesn't need to worry about that issue. The film moves through at a good pace but you wonder about what happened to the family after.