WHAT THEY HAD

US, 2018, 101 minutes, Colour.
Hilary Swank, Michael Shannon, Robert Forster, Blythe Danner, Tessa Farmiga, Josh Lucas, Marilyn Dodd Frank.
Directed by is Elizabeth Chomko.

A film about family, especially in conflict concerning one of the parents experiencing Alzheimers and its consequences. The film was written and directed by actress Elizabeth Chomko, is a strong plot, strong characters and dialogue.

The film also has the advantage of an excellent cast led by Hilary Swank as the daughter who is summoned when her mother, Blythe Danner, has a wandering episode. Father is played in a very strong performance by Robert Forster, one of his last roles, but one of his best, a very determined father, relying on faith and his dominating will. Surprisingly, the son who is required to be a caregiver but who tries to run a bar, which his father looks down on, and is relegated to a back room by his girlfriend, is played effectively by the versatile Michael Shannon. There is also Hilary Swank’s daughter, expelled from a dormitory for drinking, played by Tessa Farmiga. Josh Lucas plays her husband, from whom she is somewhat alienated.

So, the situation is serious, the son wanting his mother to move into aged care, the father adamant against it. The daughter comes in, with power of attorney, but still dominated by her father, communicating with her brother and trying to make decisions while, at the same time, dealing with her own emotions concerning her daughter and her husband. The mother is genial, relating well to her children, loving her husband, but experiencing more and more dementia episodes.

If an audience is wanting to find a film about dementia, What They Had is certainly a strong choice. While it offers the arguments for and against aged care, for the consequences for relationships and family, it also offers high emotion, especially at the end, with an unexpected death and what follows.

1. A story of family? A family of ageing? Dementia?

2. Los Angeles settings, homes and family? Chicago settings, streets, buildings, homes, hospital, homes for the aged? Bars? The musical score?

3. The use of home footage, memories of the past, characters, incidents? Insertion throughout the film? At the end?

4. The opening, Ruth, getting up and dressing, out into the cold, wandering? Are getting the train, travelling, to meet her mother? Her being recovered?

5. Bridget, at home, the tense relationship with her husband, clashes with her daughter? The phone calls? Travelling to Chicago? Nicholas meeting them? Going home, the meeting with Burt, going to see Ruth?

6. Bert, strong character, his Catholic background and demands, marriages commitment? The later reprising of his story, Ruth, rejection, polio, carrying her to the cinema, enlistment for career, return, the long years of marriage? The children? His refusal to face Ruth’s dementia? Antipathy towards homes for the aged? His continued care for Ruth?

7. Bridget, power of attorney, the discussions with Nicholas, her concern about her mother, treatment of her mother, support of her father, clashes with her father, the discussions with her daughter, drinking, not enrolling for the next semester? Lies? Bridget and her trying to do with the situation, going to mass than not believing, the encounter with Jerry, inviting him to change the locks, flirting, seen by Nicholas, criticism by her father?

8. Nicholas, in Chicago, clashes with his father, love for his mother, trying to help, the phone calls? The buyer, his ownership and management, Bridget having a drink? His father not visiting? At the end, his father actually coming, praising the Manhattan? Nicholas exasperation, trying to do his best, the deal with home for the aged, his father’s criticism of his smoking? His personal relationship, the girlfriend, her son?

9. Ruth, her age, her past, the dementia, sometimes remembering, her affectionate speech, her children, her husband as her boyfriend, becoming ruder, the gesture in the church, drinking the holy water? Wandering, her friend Marion? Life at home, the meals, put to bed, getting up? Wandering? Christmas, the gift of the locket, to remember them both?

10. Emma, her age, at college, drinking, clashes with her mother, going to Chicago, love for her grandmother, support of her grandfather, playing the games with him? Her mother’s attempted reconciliation?

11. Bert, sending Bridget home, his signing the document? Looking at a Ruth, his going outside, collapsing? His death?

12. Bridget returning home, the tension with her husband, his gift of the Ring? Having to return to Chicago?

13. The funeral, Bridget's eulogy in the church, those present, the wake, Ruth and her being puzzled about the wake?

14. Nicholas, the wake, his grief? The images of the past, Ruth recalling the past, then lost?

15. The aftermath for each of the members of the family?