'Grace Is Gone' is a 2007 drama film starring famed actor John Cusack as a father who cannot bring himself to tell his two daughters that their mother, a soldier in the American army, has just been killed on a tour of duty in Iraq. On January 29, 2007, it won the Audience Award for Drama at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film was produced by Plum Pictures and New Crime Productions and purchased by Harvey Weinstein for distribution by The Weinstein Company. Weinstein announced plans to mount an Academy Award campaign on behalf of Cusack. This also marks the first time Clint Eastwood composed the score for a film which he did not write, direct or star in, and the score earned the film 2 Golden Globe nominations. The film was rated 6.8/10 on IMDB and 62% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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| But Stan is still here |
Plot :
Stanley Phillips is a middle-aged Army veteran caring for his two daughters, 12-year-old Heidi and 8-year-old Dawn, while his wife, Grace, serves in Iraq. One afternoon, two Army officers visit his home and inform him that Grace has been killed in combat. In shock, Stanley dreads having to tell his daughters of their mother's death. When they arrive home from school, he takes them out to dinner and plans to tell them afterward. Unable to, he instead decides to take them to Enchanted Gardens, a theme park in Florida that the girls have been wanting to visit for some time. That evening, he calls his home to hear Grace's voice on their answering machine. The following morning, they arrive at Stanley's mother's house, who is out. Instead they find Stanley's younger brother, John. Stanley encourages the three to go out to lunch. During their absence, he finally breaks down and mourns Grace. Upon returning, John receives a call from a family friend expressing their condolences for Grace's death. John angrily confronts Stanley, demanding to know why he hasn't told the girls. Stanley says he will eventually. The trio leave and later that day, stay at a motel. While Stanley is out of the room, Heidi calls her school to inform them that she and Dawn will be out for a few days. She notices her principal, who informs her that her teacher has taken maternity leave, is unusually sympathetic. The following afternoon at a gas station, Stanley calls their answering machine again, leaving a message saying he wished it'd been him that'd been deployed instead of Grace. Heidi asks who he was speaking to and grows suspicious after Stanley tells her he was talking to her teacher at the school. That evening, the three arrive at Enchanted Gardens. At their hotel, Heidi calls home and hears Stanley's message to Grace, growing even more suspicious. The next day, the three spend their time at the park, having the most fun since Grace departed for Iraq. Stanley is reluctant to leave as he knows he will soon have to tell them of Grace's death. He takes the girls to a nearby beach and finally informs them that Grace has died. The three embrace and mourn her as the sun sets. At Grace's funeral, Heidi writes an eulogy and reads it aloud. The film ends with Stanley, Heidi and Dawn at her (Grace's) grave.
Analysis & Reflection :
Based on the title of the film itself, it is clear that one of the major themes of the film would be loss and grief. One particular person who exhibited more grief than anyone else in the film was Stan, who found it really difficult to cope with his wife's death and the fact that he had to inform his two daughters about the news sometime in the future. According to Kubler-Ross's stages of grief, Stan exhibited various forms of grief at different times throughout the film. For example, Stan exhibits denial when he chooses to ignore the problem at hand and brings his children to Enchanted Gardens to have fun. He then also exhibits anger when he fights with his brother, John, about informing his daughters about their mother's death. Stan portrays the third stage, bargaining, by talking to his wife through the phone, wishing that he was the one that got deployed instead of her. The fourth stage, depression, is exhibited by Stan throughout the whole film, where he tries to distract himself by trying to have fun with his daughters at Enchanted Gardens and allowing them to pierce their ears. Finally, acceptance is portrayed towards the end of the film, where Stan finally lets his daughters know about their mother and the three accept and mourn their loss together.
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| Don't let them in, don't let them see, be the good dad you always have to be. |
However, there are also many different ways that each individual deals with grief, and that leads to different interpretations of the movie. For example, Stan could have already accepted that his wife was dead at the start of the film but was worried about how his daughters would react to the news, so instead he fulfills all their wants and dreams, in a possible attempt to 'soften the blow' before delivering the tragic news. In the context of this alternative interpretation, Stan could be doing as explained above, which would explain why he fought with John and called his wife; what all of them had in common was the topic of letting his daughters know about their mother's death.
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| How do I tell them :/ |
Apart from Stan, the other two characters, his daughters, also had to adapt to the sudden transition that their father suddenly experienced and applied upon them. Heidi and Dawn were also perceived to have been affected by their mother's absence, and the effects were depicted quite obviously in the film, in the form of Heidi's insomnia and the time when Dawn hid in the toy house after piercing her ears. Regardless of their cheerful attitudes when having fun at the Enchanted Gardens, Heidi was suspicious, even coming close to discovering that her mother had died before her father had told her due to Stan's unusual behaviour, and Stan had nervous breakdowns, where he had to take breaks to make phone calls to cope with the situation. Dawn was just too young and playful to suspect anything wrong with the situation.
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| Dammit Dawn your mum is dead can you behave |
Conclusion :
Anybody and everybody that has lost a loved one before can relate to this movie, as it does remind all of us just how difficult it is, with the process of mourning and state of grief experienced. Probably one of John Cusack's finest performances in his career, this movie really does capture the essence of coping with the death of a loved one.
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| Really? only a 6.5/10? |
Rating : 6.5/10
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