Lady of the House - Pilot
Genre : Dark Comedy / Erotic / Thriller
Director : François Ozon
Writer : Chad Taylor
Cast: Linda Cardellini, Ezra Miller, Alfred Molina, Maia Mitchell
Plot:
Based on a True
Story
In 1913, Frank
Reisinger (Alfred Molina) is among the wealthiest men in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
overseeing one of the largest textile factories in the country. He met his
Austrian wife Polly (Linda Cardellini) 10 years earlier on a trip abroad to
Europe. Despite being in the upper class of the community, Polly feels
increasingly isolated as an immigrant housewife. They attend an affluent party
where Frank is the life of the party while Polly drinks by herself. She makes
an offhand comment about the host’s wife and they are asked to leave, to
Frank’s dismay.
After the party, chronic alcoholic Frank comes
home and drinks even more. He and his wife have a rather nothing argument about
what they will have for dinner the next day, but this escalates to a point
where Frank becomes violently angry about Polly’s actions tonight. With Polly
in bed, he drops his pants to rape her but he falls flat on his face, passed
out drunk. She rolls her eyes and laughs in relief, as if she has already seen
this cycle before, before going to sleep.
Despite having no memory of the details, Frank worries about Polly’s well-being after their argument last night and sends his young secretary Mary (Maia Mitchell) to check on Polly and talk to her woman-to-woman. Despite it being midday, Polly is struggling to masturbate to a Victorian novel when Mary knocks on the door. This startles her. Polly is suspicious of her husband’s intentions at first but feels like she may be able to play this to her advantage and so invites Mary in.
While their conversation starts simple enough, Polly grows aggressive and Mary is worried that she suspects her and Frank are having an affair (they aren’t). Instead, Polly starts pouring her heart out. She talks about what a terrible man Frank is - his alcoholism, his subpar cultural tastes, his disappointing performance in bed. She feels that their marriage is trapped within his boring control. Mary asks why Polly doesn’t just divorce him - something Mary would never consider herself but is available to Polly given her class status. Polly laughs it off, saying there is only one way to get rid of Frank and it is not divorce.
Having felt they’ve built a good rapport, Polly suddenly gets a bright idea and tells Mary she wants her to show her the factory - a place Polly has never stepped foot in. Polly even offers Mary a ride back to the factory with her personal carriage driver. Mary is extremely hesitant, knowing that Frank would be furious if Polly showed up to his work and that her job might be at risk. However, Polly’s strong will is undeniable and Mary says she’ll do it.
At the factory, Mary gives Polly a brief tour - trying the whole time to avoid being noticed by Frank. Polly asks if Frank has any favorites and Mary points out a young man named Otto Struber (Ezra Miller). From afar, Polly sizes up Otto with her eyes and has a brief debate within her head before shrugging her shoulders in a “why not?” manner. She thanks Mary and tells her that she will now be leaving. Mary is very puzzled.
At home, Polly searches through Frank’s tools and finds a hammer. She waltzes over to her sewing machine and damages it with the hammer as happy classical music plays. When Frank arrives home, he finds Polly seated on the floor crying. He asks what is wrong and she tells him that her sewing machine broke. He is too inept to fix it himself so he doesn’t even check it and instead says he will send one of his trusted workers from the factory to fix it. When he leaves to get a drink, Polly is mad at herself for actually damaging the machine and over-estimating her husband’s intelligence. She could just have easily lied about the machine being broken and he wouldn’t know any difference!
Despite having no memory of the details, Frank worries about Polly’s well-being after their argument last night and sends his young secretary Mary (Maia Mitchell) to check on Polly and talk to her woman-to-woman. Despite it being midday, Polly is struggling to masturbate to a Victorian novel when Mary knocks on the door. This startles her. Polly is suspicious of her husband’s intentions at first but feels like she may be able to play this to her advantage and so invites Mary in.
While their conversation starts simple enough, Polly grows aggressive and Mary is worried that she suspects her and Frank are having an affair (they aren’t). Instead, Polly starts pouring her heart out. She talks about what a terrible man Frank is - his alcoholism, his subpar cultural tastes, his disappointing performance in bed. She feels that their marriage is trapped within his boring control. Mary asks why Polly doesn’t just divorce him - something Mary would never consider herself but is available to Polly given her class status. Polly laughs it off, saying there is only one way to get rid of Frank and it is not divorce.
Having felt they’ve built a good rapport, Polly suddenly gets a bright idea and tells Mary she wants her to show her the factory - a place Polly has never stepped foot in. Polly even offers Mary a ride back to the factory with her personal carriage driver. Mary is extremely hesitant, knowing that Frank would be furious if Polly showed up to his work and that her job might be at risk. However, Polly’s strong will is undeniable and Mary says she’ll do it.
At the factory, Mary gives Polly a brief tour - trying the whole time to avoid being noticed by Frank. Polly asks if Frank has any favorites and Mary points out a young man named Otto Struber (Ezra Miller). From afar, Polly sizes up Otto with her eyes and has a brief debate within her head before shrugging her shoulders in a “why not?” manner. She thanks Mary and tells her that she will now be leaving. Mary is very puzzled.
At home, Polly searches through Frank’s tools and finds a hammer. She waltzes over to her sewing machine and damages it with the hammer as happy classical music plays. When Frank arrives home, he finds Polly seated on the floor crying. He asks what is wrong and she tells him that her sewing machine broke. He is too inept to fix it himself so he doesn’t even check it and instead says he will send one of his trusted workers from the factory to fix it. When he leaves to get a drink, Polly is mad at herself for actually damaging the machine and over-estimating her husband’s intelligence. She could just have easily lied about the machine being broken and he wouldn’t know any difference!
The next day,
Polly anxiously awaits for someone to show up. Her non-stop window-peeking is
finally rewarded when she sees that it is indeed Otto who Frank sent. She
offers him tea but he politely declines. He then goes over to the sewing
machine as Polly makes small talk. The conversation reveals that Otto himself
is a recent immigrant from Poland and hopes to work his way from the factory
floors to the offices. When he finally finishes fixing it, he comments on how
extensive the damage was and wonders how that happens. When he turns around, he
finds Polly lounged back in a chair with her dress hiked up and leg exposed. He
raises his eyebrows in shocked curiosity while she raises hers in a checkmate
move, as if to dare him. Otto shrugs his shoulders in a “why not?” manner.
Polly smiles.
The cast itself sold the show for me and what a pleasure to see them all together. The light tone, in a certain comical way, made the pilot feels like it just flew by and I had a great time watching it, which is what a pilot should be all about.
"Linda Cardellini looks like she's having the time of her life in a rare lead role for her, while her on-screen husband, Alfred Molina, who's been quieter in recent years, is slowly making a comeback and I'm all for it. Francois Ozon lets the cast do the heavy lifting and it's a smart move.
"I honestly don't know how to feel after watching this pilot episode. It struggles to find its rhythm, jumping over the line between the melodrama and the more serious part and hopefully the show is able to find its balance in the long run.
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