Leaving Everything - Star Foam
Director :
Marielle Heller
Writer :
Ann Morrow
Based on the novel by Anais
Barbeau-Lavalette
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Tobey Maguire and Colm Feore
Plot:
This episode is in black and white,
with no music being played.
The camera is focused on a burning
apartment building, presumably the one our main characters were living in. Firefighters
are busy trying to fight the fire, as bystanders curiously watch. We continue
to hear the sound from that scene, but the camera travels far away from the
busy streets of Montreal and stop deep in Quebec country. It travels a field of
crops and small barn. A woman is heard screaming that her baby is inside the building
on fire. Her scream continues and they eventually match the screams we hear coming
from the small farm house. Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) is giving birth to her second
child, a boy this time, as her now husband Marcel (Tobey Maguire) watches on,
smoking a cigarette with indifference. Marcel is skinnier than before, not that
he once was overweight before, but he’s much skinnier than he was. Their first
child, Mousse, enters the living room, wondering why her mother was screaming
like that and Marcel tells her to get the hell out of here. He gets up and locks
himself in his study while Suzanne is still screaming in the background.
A couple of months later, a much scrawnier
Marcel is smoking a cigarette with indifference, holding the baby boy in his
arms in the kitchen as a dangerously skinny Suzanne is cooking with Mousse
watching her. Marcel sits the baby on the table and leaves the room, pointing
the baby at Mousse. She comes over to the table and plays with him a little, as
Suzanne looks over her shoulder discouraged. She sighs and goes back to her
pots and pans.
The family eats in silence for the
most part, but the baby decides otherwise and he starts to cry. Suzanne tries
to comfort him with one arm, while helping Mousse eat with the other. Marcel
looks away, slowly chewing. Suzanne can’t manage to calm the baby and Marcel
abruptly leaves the table, grabbing his plate and locking himself in his office
once again. A tear is seen dripping down Suzanne’s face. The silence is broken
by Mousse, innocently asking her mother what’s wrong.
After dinner, Suzanne quietly opens
the door to Marcel’s office and she places a hand on his shoulder. He’s
painting, again. He looks at her and smiles, but Suzanne doesn’t smile back.
She asks him if he will work the field tomorrow, because if he doesn’t, they
won’t have anything to eat this winter. Marcel answers back that it’s good she finally
talks to him and he didn’t remember the last time he heard her speak to him. He
turns around and leans in to kiss her, but at the same time, Mousse enters the
room and asks to go to the bathroom. Suzanne quickly turns around and grabs
Mousse’s hand. The camera follows them outside as we hear the sound of the wind.
They walk to a really small building with a small roof and a hole on the
ground. The camera focuses on Suzanne’s face as she gags and holds her daughter
as she does her business. Mousse says she will race her mother inside, but Suzanne
doesn’t feel like having fun. She slowly walks inside, looking around
desperately. When she comes back inside, Marcel comes out of his study, with a
smile on his face. He says he finally decided to open the letter they received
earlier. He managed to book an exposition in New York, thanks to Borduas. He
hugs her enthusiastically and Suzanne hugs him back, but she doesn’t seem too pleased.
About a week later, Marcel bids
farewell to his family and he leaves for his New York exhibition. Suzanne sits
on her rocking chair, slowly rocking, as Mousse runs around playing some sort
of imaginary game and the baby is on the floor. Time passes by on accelerate and
Mousse runs around quickly, while Suzanne rocks her rocking chair aggressively.
Time slows down and finally stops. The blinds are closed and the small wooden
house is dark. Some light takes over from the darkness as Suzanne is drinking a
cup of coffee. Marcel is back from his New York trip with a healthy check in
hand. He intends to celebrate with his wife, but only Mousse is happy to see
him. Suzanne turns her head and smiles lightly.
The night has come and they are in
bed facing away from each other. Marcel turns around and he speaks to Suzanne,
grabbing her by the shoulder, speaking in her ear. He says he hasn’t been there
much recently, but he still loves this family and he’s doing whatever he can to
help them and that unfortunately involves them being separated for a while. He
says he has to go back to New York for a month so he can earn money again. He
asks her if she loves him again and she turns around and looks him in the eyes.
She says he makes it hard to love him before kissing him. She turns around
again and they go to sleep.
The following morning, Suzanne is in
her morning routine, cooking breakfast for the whole family, with Mousse
running around, asking to go to the bathroom. Marcel takes her and it gives Suzanne
a little quiet moment, until the baby starts crying. She sights and she takes
care of him, completely forgetting about the food she was cooking. A small fire
start and Marcel runs inside to take it out. The whole house stinks of smoke and
they open the windows to let the smoke out. It’s now winter and Marcel starts a
fire in the fireplace. The cold winter wind chills everyone and the mood is
once again down when they eat together. They work the field all day and when the
night comes, Marcel says goodbye to his family again, Suzanne kisses him passionately,
which surprises Marcel.
She locks herself in her study and
opens a letter she received from Borduas (Colm Feore). He narrates the letter as we see time
passing by outside. He tells her how great of a woman she was and how she’s a
good person for taking care of her family like that. He says she can send him
her poems so he can read them. He was always a fan of her writing and he would
like to see what she’s been working on all these years. She never even thought
about writing all those months. She burns the letter and heads in her room.
She grabs a small bag and gathers
all her belongings. She looks at date on the calendar and notices Marcel is
coming back tomorrow morning.
She grabs Mousse by the hand and
sits her down in front of the fire and she lowers down to her level. She grabs
her by the shoulders and tells her to listen very hard. She says mom will be
gone for a while and she needs her to take care of her brother, everything is
going to be alright. She grabs a bucket and tells her to use it as a toilet.
She pats her on the head and tells her that she loves her very much and she
will be back soon. She hugs her hard and when Mousse wants to separate, Suzanne
extends the hug. Tears are running down her face. She kisses her on the cheek
and puts another log in the fire, just in case. She opens the door and closes
it, before walking down the road. A poem by Suzanne is read as she walks all
the way to the train station. She buys a ticket for the next departing train, not
knowing where it will lead her, leaving her two children in the cold of the
night alone at home, hoping that Marcel won’t be late. She vaguely thinks about
it, but she has no regrets. She left everything and doesn’t regret it. She
looks genuinely happy for the first time in forever.
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