Star-studded family-ties drama headlined by an Oscar-nominated Meryl Streep.
Violet Weston (Meryl Streep) is a difficult woman with a sharp tongue and a taste for booze and pills, and a battle with cancer hasn’t softened her much. After her poet husband Beverly (Sam Shepard) finally takes off, the ailing Violet calls her sister Mattie Fae (Margo Martindale) and daughters Ivy (Julianne Nicholson), Barbara (Julia Roberts) and Karen (Juliette Lewis) to join her at her house in Oklahoma.
Tensions immediately run high, particularly between Violet and the almost as brittle Barbara, but a sudden tragedy forces everyone to confront their demons and spill some of their closest-held secrets.
TV veteran Wells follows up debut feature The Company Men with this stellar adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prizewinning play. Letts pens the screenplay himself, as he did with the 2011 film version of his play Killer Joe, and gives his accomplished cast plenty to get their teeth into. With a lot of the action taking place in the Westons’ sprawling rural home, the film’s roots in the theatre are easy to spot, and it quickly reveals itself as a showcase for some insightful dialogue and brilliant acting.
August: Osage County is a Film programme that first aired in 2013 and has been classified a 15 certificate.
