The film tells the story of three families and a single woman. Christine and her husband are both writers and belong to a typical middle-class American family. Jane is a middle-aged fashion designer, her husband is a manager of a company, and she is also a middle-class with a carefree life. Franny is a spiritually empty housewife and her husband is wealthy above the middle class, and can easily donate $2 million to a school. Olivia, played by Jennifer Aniston, is a single woman who quit her teaching job and became a maid. She is the poorest among the other three families. The title is also from her point of view.
Christine's life was uneventful, and there seemed to be no apparent crisis with her husband, but she was gradually losing her passion. It can be said that Christine, as the only woman who failed emotionally in the final film, has accumulated conflicts in her family little by little. From a small disagreement with my husband on writing, to the awkwardness over a Christmas tree, from the quarrel over the addition of a house, to the frontal outburst over a small burn, it's all in a slow pace. In progress. The conflict between Christine and her husband seems to be mostly caused by Christine's idealism. For example, she feels guilty about the added house blocking the view of the neighbors. The immediate reason for the final breakup. But deep down, it is actually Christine's pursuit of principles and life. She pointed out her views on her husband directly, and it was more of a resistance to her existing life, a resistance to the dullness to numbness. At the end of the movie, she heard the maid's sentence "It's okay, Kristen", and the smile seemed to imply that she was finding the rhythm of her life again.
Jane has been complaining since she appeared on the stage, and the endless chatter all day allows many people to find similar shadows in their lives. She used to collect shampoo, but now she doesn't wash her hair for months. She always felt that society was unfair and people were indifferent, so she lost her mind because of a queue cut. These behaviors that seem to be menopausal syndrome are actually more due to her underlying anxiety about marriage. Her husband was seen as having homosexual tendencies. She was actually aware of it, but she was reluctant to point it out directly like Christine did, but used other ways to vent her unease. During the dinner scene with my husband's new friend's family, I remembered that one of my relatives, like Jane, disliked every part of the restaurant and kept complaining that it was dirty and slow, and this complaint also Really totally spoiled the atmosphere of the meal. But this is the way every middle-aged woman expresses her dissatisfaction with her life, whether in the United States or China. At the end of the film, Jane's husband said "In my heart, you are the most beautiful." Finally, Jane showed a long-lost smile. I think Jane's doubts and unease about her husband will dissipate at this moment.
Franny's family is the least inscribed in the film. She represents the richest old friend, and she also represents the epitome of America's wealthy family. You can donate 2 million to the school and attend a fund-raising party for a rare disease, but Franny politely declined the $1,800 that Aniston borrowed from her. In fact, $1,800 is not money at all for the Franny family, but without a job, she still has a subconscious resistance to using her husband's money, especially for her sisters. Franny herself is kind, but she is the most wealthy class in America, but it is unavoidable that she is farther and farther away from her old friends.
Olivia is another typical American woman. She is independent, has a good face, and wants to be loved. For this reason, she didn't hesitate to go to various counters to try on cosmetics, fool around with a fitness trainer who was obviously an asshole, and destroy other people's families by being a mistress. She quit her job as a teacher because she felt the job robbed her of her dignity. She would rather be a maid, just because she doesn't want to be ordered by others. If Christine pursues a sense of self and Jane pursues a sense of security, then Olivia pursues a sense of respect and being loved. She only wanted to show her true side in front of her old friends, so she left angrily when her sisters questioned her ability to be a fitness trainer. For love, she can go to all kinds of men, even ugly fat ones who look down and down. At the end of the film, Fatty Ugly is arranged to be a rich man with a good character, just so that the film can have a happy ending. It is conceivable that if this man was also a lazy bastard, Olivia would still continue to pursue her respect and love.
As mentioned earlier, this film does not have the various gimmicks of commercial films, nor the incomprehensible or profound connotations of literary films. It just tells the life of a few Americans slowly and flatly. The plot in the film lets us know that no matter where we are, the stories of life are similar, there are all kinds of anxiety about life, and there are all kinds of beauty in life. This is a life drama, not comedy or tragedy, just like a basin of white water, but in the white water you can see your own reflection.
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