Title : Leaving Everything
Director :
Marielle Heller
Writer :
Ann Morrow
Based on the novel by Anais
Barbeau-Lavalette
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Robin Tunney, Lance Henriksen, Phoebe Tonkin, Ryan McPartlin, Brenna Sherman, Helen McCrory and Blythe Danner
Plot: Anna (Robin Tunney) opens her mail on a grey Tuesday morning and there’s a letter stating that her grandmother died, so she’s summoned to her Ottawa apartment to take a look at her things and free the apartment. Anna hasn’t seen her grandmother in years, she saw her once or twice. She definitely remember when she waved at her at her mother’s funeral, but that’s about it and the moment they went to see her together in Ottawa, a meeting that lasted about two minutes, but that’s about it. She goes back inside and takes out the things she has from the mysterious woman that is her now deceased grandmother. She never failed to send a birthday card, she has one from her every year, with a little poem written on the inside, signed “Suze, XX”. Duty calls, so she gets in her car and leaves for Ottawa, as the rain hits her windshield.
Claudia (Pheobe Tonkin) is in line at the food bank with her husband Achilles (Ryan McPartlin) in Ottawa during the Great Depression. Her daughter Suzanne (Brenna Sherman) is irritating her, as she absolutely want a food coupon herself. She decides to give one to her to keep her quiet, as people around were irritated by her presence. Suzanne is now a happy little girl and she runs around, circling around people. She runs and runs and runs, as Claudia keeps an eye on her. A desperate looking man, tired of Suzanne’s behavior trips her and she lands in a puddle, ruining the coupon. Achilles confronts the man and they fight, until police arrives and separate the two. It’s their turn to enter and with a missing coupon, they don’t get enough to feed the whole family.
Anna says she’s an idiot for knocking at the apartment’s door, when she’s knows nobody will answer. She unlocks the door with the janitor’s help and enter the apartment. It’s simple and beige, but when you take your time to look closer, it looks like her grandmother had money. She looks around, no pictures of her, or from her family. The only framed picture she sees is her grandmother with another woman. It is written on the frame that the other woman is Hilda Strike, former Olympic silver medalist at the 100m, an oddity for sure. Anna looks in her things, but can’t find anything worthwhile. She stumbles upon a closed book, her personal diary. She reads it, as she wants to know who her grandmother was and why she left them behind.
When the family got back home to the other five children, Achilles, a former teacher forced to leave his job during the Depression, who now works as construction worker, takes it out on his wife, for trusting a little kid with something so important. Suzanne looks on, unfazed, she’s seen this scene many times. When the night comes, Achilles asks Claudia if she thought about his offer. He’s talking about the deal the Canadian government is promising to every family who has at least 12 kids. If they have 12 kids, they would be handed a field with a house on it and if they work the field, they would be able to eat and survive. She keeps refusing, she’s had six children and can’t think about having six others when they can barely live a decent life with the ones they currently have. She goes to sleep in the kids’ room in the bad she made there. When he started to beat her, she stopped sleeping with him. During the night, Suzanne is awaken by a noise coming from her room. Achilles carries Claudia back to his room and he closes the door.
Anna recalls the time she went to see her grandmother, after her mother Marge (Helen McCrory) tracked her down with the help of a private detective. In the ride there, she recalls that she was excited in the car ride to get there and her mother too. They pulled up in the parking lot and sat there silently. Even though they travelled all the way there, they’re not sure if they want to meet her. It’s Marge who breaks the silence by opening the door. She hasn’t seen her mother for a long time, she doesn’t even remember what she looks like. They knock on the door and when Suzanne (Blythe Danner) answers, Marge simply says “Hi, mom”. Suzanne seems a bit shocked, but lets them in. Anna presents herself, she’s her grandchild. They sit silently, staring at each other. Anna looks around and looks at the decor. It’s Marge who once again breaks the silence, she asked her mother why she left. Suzanne gets up and tells them to leave. Anna looks back in the apartment once last time before she leaves and now that she’s walking in the apartment once again, she realises that nothing has changed. When they were on their way to the car, Suzanne got out on the balcony and told her to never ask that question again. On the ride back, she remembered her mother crying, but she didn’t say a word.
Back in Suzanne’s childhood, a couple of months later, Claudia is giving birth to another child, even though she didn’t want it. The same day, Claudia decided to accompany her father to work. He’s a construction worker, but never did any construction. Today, his team has to pick dandelions of a field and they are paid by the number, so with the help of Suzanne, he brings home a record, but still low, paycheck. They do it again the next day and Suzanne is as close to her father as she’s ever been, but she doesn’t know the monster he really is.
Before she reads Suzanne’s journal, Anna takes a look at the other things in the box. She then learns that she has an uncle that she doesn’t know, and nobody ever talks about. He lives not really far away from here. She decides to go there, leaving her grandmother’s history behind her.
Suzanne always had an unhealthy obsession with Claudia’s piano. She recalls her mother still playing it, back when she was still smiling, back when she was happy. Since nobody’s home, except her siblings, she decides to lie on the piano, even if her mother strictly prohibited her from touching it. Speaking of Claudia, she’s once again pregnant, or her eighth child. She’s a couple of blocks away, with other women. She speaks about her experience with Achilles, about how he was nice and charming, but he changed. She retells the most difficult moments, when he beats her and when he rapes her. The women around her offer her contraception, but as they do, police raid the house and arrest the owner, for running an illegal practice. Claudia runs away, as she can’t believe her friend just got arrested for giving women contraception methods. When she gets back home, she’s surprised and horrified to see Achilles beating Suzanne. When asked why, he says she found her lying on the piano. Claudia urges her to stop.
Anna is surprised to see that the address is a hospital for the clinically insane. She asks at the reception for Francis and tell her to wait for a while in the lobby. When they finally call her name, she goes up a couple of stairs and anxiously enters a room, where her uncle, Francis (Lance Henriksen) is in a straitjacket and under constant supervision. She introduces herself and he doesn’t really listen. She tries to have a conversation with him, but he starts screaming at her. The guard takes him away from her and someone else escorts her back to the reception, where she asks to speak to Francis’ doctor. While she’s waiting, she takes out her grandmother’s first journal and reads it.
Her journey begins in Ottawa, when she finally leaves the house. With her parents approval, she leaves the city she was born in to study literature in Montreal. She waves them goodbye and leaves on a train. Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) is all smile when she finally sets foot in Montreal. Her real life begins now.
Heller and Morrow excel in creating intrigue around the character of Suzanne, leaving the viewer curious about the missing details of her life. It remains to be seen how well Rebecca Hall will assume the mantle of that central role but, given her past work, I’d say we’re in good hands.
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