The Relatability of August: Osage County
In late June 2007, the play August: Osage County, written by Tracy Letts, made its debut at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. Roughly six and a half years later, the film version of August: Osage county was released in January 2014. The cast of the movie is loaded with well-known actors and actresses: Meryl Streep plays Violet Weston, the mother of three daughters: Barbara Weston, (Julia Roberts) Ivy Weston, (Julianne Nicholson) and Karen Weston (Juliette Lewis). The family is all brought back together after the disappearance of the father Beverly Weston (Sam Shepard), and the play depicts what a truly dysfunctional family is like. Barbara brings along her husband Bill (Ewan McGregor) and daughter Jean (Abigail Breslin) with other key roles brought in, such as Karen’s fiancé Steve (Dermot Mulroney) and Violet’s sister Mattie Fae (Margo Martindale) her husband Charles (Chris Cooper) and their adult son, Little Charles (Benedict Cumberbatch). The cast of many well known actors and actresses really makes this film enjoyable to watch.
Before his disappearance, Beverly hires an assistant named Johnna (Misty Upham), to help take care of his wife who is suffering from a form of mouth cancer. Learning about the hiring of Johanna starts to make the viewers’ gears turn about the fact that maybe Beverly knew he was going to disappear at some point, so hiring some help wouldn’t leave Violet all alone.
The movie and play both showcase an exaggerated form of family struggles most have had to deal with, whether that be in the form of the failing marriage that Bill and Barbara have or just general disagreements between family members.
There are some shocking scenes that would not usually happen between a family, for example an extremely creepy encounter between Karen’s fiancé Steve and the 14-year-old Jean that leads to someone getting hit with a shovel and multiple people leaving and an odd relationship between Ivy and Little Charles (that you would not expect to see when looking at a family) that causes an extremely tense and awkward dinner scene.
As time goes on, family members begin to leave for one reason or another, mainly because of an argument or an event that has taken place. For example, Ivy storms out of the Weston home and gets in her car and leaves after finding out a horrible truth that her mother and Barbara have been withholding from her. One by one characters begin to leave, until ultimately the only people left in the Weston family home are Violet and Johnna.
Transitioning the play into a film was done flawlessly, in my opinion, yet there are some scenes from the play that would have fit nicely in the film that were cut. For example, there is a scene where Jean talks to Johnna about her parents and their failing marriage, this scene would help the film show more character development on Jean as in the play it is clearly shown how her parents splitting up is affecting her and she sort of vents out all of her problems to Johanna which develops a little bit of friendship between the two. Also, a scene where Barbara is alone with the sheriff who comes to the Weston home on behalf of Beverly’s disappearance. Barbara just so happens to have dated this guy in highschool, and she attempts to kiss the sheriff. It is a shame this scene was cut from the film because it paints a great picture of how lost Barbara is in her life at the moment.
One of the great features about taking a play and turning it into a film is the soundtrack, the use of music throughout August: Osage County is something that definitely catches the viewer’s attention, although it is basically one song used many times. The famous song “Lay Down Sally,” by one of, if not the greatest, guitarists of all time, Eric Clapton, is played several times throughout the film and is used to tip the viewer off to know that the song has some kind of importance to the characters. In the play version, Clapton’s mentioned a few times, but in the film the very catchy “Lay down, Sally, and rest here in my arms” is played multiple times, making it remain in the viewers head for hours. Not only is it a great choice of song, but it adds a lot of depth to some important scenes in the film and the lyrics can compare to how Violet really feels.
August: Osage County serves its purpose as a film or play almost everyone can relate to and that is why it is so intriguing for the viewer. It plays with the viewer or reader’s emotions. The film stands alone, without needing to know it was based off of a play, but if you are going to watch the movie, I strongly recommend reading the Pulitzer Prize winning play, by Tracy Letts, too.
