The Good House (2021) Review: The strenuous disillusionment of a high-functioning alcoholic
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Unresolved trauma, pathological denial in the form of Sigourney Weaver breaking the fourth wall, and generational ignorance about mental illness make up this dark, dramedy romance set in the fictional fishing town of Wendover. Weaver’s Hildy is a badass go-getter realtor who has grown up in a “suck it up” environment and has taken to self-medicating with alcohol to function.
Adapted from Ann Leary’s novel, “The Good House (2021),”; Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky’s affecting film takes a real hard look at the creepingly dangerous face of alcoholism that Hildy breaks the fourth wall to blatantly deny for the most part. Her manner of addressing the audience to justify her drinking is, in essence, a form of self-delusion that keeps her addiction going. An alcoholic drinks alone, but she drinks when her dogs are around. “Wine isn’t really alcohol,” thinks the jittery Hildy as she stuffs cartons full of bottles in her basement.
Our lead is adorned with two daughters who care, an old flame providing her with enough comfort and warmth to keep her going arguably, and her work which, even though it has sustained her and her family for a long, is now suffering because of her intoxicated recklessness. So why drink? Why fall back after rehab? Forbes and Wolodarsky attempt to remove these exact problematic questions that under-acknowledge, if not completely invalidate, the often festering wounds that lie underneath and enable addiction. Hildy’s problems, no matter how hard she tries to bury them, come right up on the surface, showing the people and us around her that her every move is a cry for help–help that she would most likely shove away like a petulant child. But that doesn’t mean that one should stop trying.
Weaver’s unsurprising brilliance provides a solid ground for the secretly struggling Hildy to walk on with “Season of the witch” playing in the background. Keeping her daughters at arm’s length, Hildy continues to self-destruct and hide her weaknesses under the seemingly sturdy image of a woman who her homosexual husband left. But that isn’t the cause behind her drinking, as casually joked about by the sad trophy wife Rebecca (Morena Baccarin). Rebecca’s affair with psychiatrist Peter Newbold (Rob Delaney) makes way for Hildy and Peter’s conversations that reveal the ugly truth about Hildy’s traumatizing childhood. Being reminded of her younger self finding her mother’s body after her suicide certainly isn’t the sort of reality slap that Hildy needed as we see her drowning herself in alcohol even further.
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She soothes, nonetheless, when her old romance rekindles with Frank (Kevin Kline). Weaver and Kline’s on-screen intensity growing with a lobster-greased dinner and dance leaves us hopeful for Hildy. But as wholesome and loving as Frank is, he is a clueless enabler at the same time. The earlier humorous approach of Hildy calling her blackouts “jackpots” gets increasingly darker as her addiction gets worse and slowly wrecks her life.
The film drives further into the scarcely-explored issues that the Dwight family faces, with the town being ignorant about the needs of their autistic son Jake (Silas Pereira Olson). With the risk of the flow straying from the ultimate goal and scattering all over the place, The Good House takes quite a bit of liberty when it comes to introducing sensitive tropes that clearly need more careful handling. But the loyalty lies with Hildy being at the center of the story. And it is her world that all the other characters live in.
Weaver’s talent rescues a storyline that is often blurred by distractions in bringing more to the character that would struggle in a lesser actor’s hand. All of Hildy’s quirks and discomforts, her emotional unraveling hidden under the front of indestructibility that she puts up, come to life with the actress’ unmatched comedic timing wrapped up in the sinister cloak of pathos. With the charming romance made hopeful by Kline’s impressive portrayal of a loving man who will be there for her unconditionally, Hildy quitting her addiction, for the time being, is believable. But will she stick to it?
A Good House (2021) Ending, Explained:
Does Hildy accept the reality of her alcoholism?
Coming from a generation of people that compare seeking help to whining, it is not surprising that Hildy’s way of dealing with emotional turmoil is to sweep it under the rug and never talk about it. She keeps her daughters at arm’s length, especially when their conversations get too real. For Hildy, driving drunk is far less unnerving than the thought of opening up. Getting away far too many times with her drunken recklessness has given her terrifying confidence that can potentially land her and the people around her in grave danger.
When Frank, annoyed with her relapse, asks her to go home and sleep it off, arrogant Hildy, in her blackout-drunk state, throws caution to the wind like she always does and decides to drive drunk anyway. Being woken up to frightful news the next morning by Frank, puzzled, Hildy tries to recollect the previous night’s happenings. Frank shows her the smashed car and tells her that Jake is missing. Going crazy, considering the possibility that she may have hit Jake with her car and it didn’t register, Hildy still continues to deny her blackout. As the town forms search parties to find Jake, Hildy opens up another bottle and is left in tears when it falls down and breaks. Her ultimate breakdown starts taking place when she hallucinates talking with Peter and him reassuring her that Jake is okay.
When the cops, looking for Jake, find Peter’s lifeless body in the water, Hildy is expectedly distraught at the sight. It is not just the hallucination that scares her; it is also the fact that she has realized the real cause of Peter’s death–he ended his own life. Having another close encounter with suicide shakes Hildy out of her denial. She finally breaks down and begs for help. This time, she goes to rehab by her own choice and really strives to work on herself. The characteristic happy ending supports this film’s romantic aspect, with Hildy being carefree and content with Kline. As the two set out sailing on a lobster boat, the film’s message becomes clear. Addiction requires help. Help that one has to embrace with the support of their loved ones and their desire for a better life–as the very relevant cliche goes, “admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.”
