Lavender (2016 film)

Last updated
Lavender
Lavender (2016 film).png
Film poster
Directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly
Written by Colin Frizzell
Ed Gass-Donnelly
Produced byEd Gass-Donnelly
David Valleau
Starring Abbie Cornish
Dermot Mulroney
Justin Long
Diego Klattenhoff
Peyton Kennedy
Lola Flanery
Cinematography Brendan Steacy
Edited by Dev Singh
Music by Sarah Neufeld
Colin Stetson
Production
companies
South Creek Pictures
3 Legged Dog Films
Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films
Release dates
Running time
93 minutes [1]
CountriesUnited States
Canada
LanguageEnglish

Lavender is a 2016 drama film directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly and written by Colin Frizzell and Ed Gass-Donnelly.

Contents

The film stars Abbie Cornish as a young mother struggling with memory lapses related to her troubled childhood. Co-stars include Dermot Mulroney, Justin Long, Diego Klattenhoff, Peyton Kennedy and Lola Flanery. The film was released on DirecTV on February 3, 2017, before being released on VOD and in theaters on March 3, 2017, by Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Plot

In 1985, police officers tell Patrick that something has happened to his brother and his family. The police find his brother, his brother's wife, and his niece have all been massacred. The police find Jane, a blood-covered teenager, to be the only survivor. The song "Lavender Blue" plays in the background. Jane is raised by a foster family and has no memory of her family or the tragedy.

In 2010, Jane owns a studio, selling photographs she takes of abandoned farmhouses. She has a strained relationship with her husband Alan and their young daughter Alice, partly because she has memory lapses. On one excursion, she is drawn to the farmhouse from the beginning of the film. Days later, Jane has a car accident and wakes up in the hospital but doesn't recognize Alan and Alice. A doctor explains that the crash aggravated a childhood head injury, the reason for her missing childhood.

Jane receives a mysterious gift; a jack, with a photo from 1985 of the farmhouse she recently photographed. The property records reveal that Jane owns the farmhouse and it has been cared for by Patrick, her uncle. The hospital psychiatrist, Liam, suggests that she visit to try to recover repressed memories. The family decides to visit and meet Patrick, who lives at the next farm. A clerk at a local antiques store shows her a framed page of a 1985 newspaper, detailing the massacre of her family and the suspicion that Jane was responsible. Jane sees Liam, but he leaves before she can approach him.

Jane receives another gift box with a torn family photo featuring young Jane, Susie, and a blurry image of their mother, Jennifer. That night, she sees Susie imploring her to "come find us". She visits Patrick, who says that Jane is the only one who knows what happened to her family. Jane later sees Susie again, who says that they need to hide from "the monster". Alice tells Alan that the girl warned her about the monster in the bedroom, while a nice lady taught her the "Lavender" song.

As Jane insists they leave, Alice screams that a man was chasing her and begins to have an asthma attack. The spirits won't let Jane leave the house when Alan rushes Alice to the hospital. She finds a music box in Susie's room, containing the other half of the torn family photo, revealing Liam to be Jane's father.

Jane finally remembers what happened the night her family died: The sisters heard Patrick enter the house and hid under the bed, but Patrick pulled Susie out and was preparing to molest her when their parents arrived home (Jennifer, her mother, who turns out to be the antiques store clerk). Jennifer grabs a hammer and finds Patrick on Susie, who suffers an asthma attack. Patrick kills Jennifer with the hammer, then chases Jane, who runs into Liam. They crash down the stairs, killing Liam and causing Jane’s head injuries. Patrick finds Susie dead of her asthma attack, so he places the hammer in Liam's hand and leaves. Jane wakes up and crawls into the corner the police found her in, covered in Liam's blood.

Adult Jane sits with Liam, who explains that the family's spirits were trapped and could only lead her to the truth so she could set them free. Alan comes and says he dropped Alice off at Patrick's. They rush there as Patrick is preparing to molest Alice, and he shoots at Alan. Jane hits Patrick with a shovel. Patrick wakes up, hands duct taped together, as Jane drags him into Susie's room. As he begs her not to leave him there, she tells him he can plead his case to the family and leaves. The movie ends as Patrick desperately cries for his life.

Cast

Production

On May 11, 2015, Abbie Cornish and Dermot Mulroney joined the cast of the film. [2]

Release

The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18, 2016. [1] The film was released on DirecTV on February 3, 2017, before being released on VOD and in theaters on March 3, 2017, by Samuel Goldwyn Films. [3]

Critical reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 36%, based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 4.61/10. [4] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a score of 46 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Mrs. Parkington</i> 1944 film by Tay Garnett

Mrs. Parkington is a 1944 drama film. It tells the story of a woman's life, told via flashbacks, from boarding house maid to society matron. The movie was adapted by Polly James and Robert Thoeren from the novel by Louis Bromfield. It was directed by Tay Garnett and starred Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon appearing together as husband and wife for the fourth time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Keener</span> American actress (born 1959)

Catherine Ann Keener is an American actress. She has portrayed disgruntled and melancholic yet sympathetic women in independent films, as well as supporting roles in studio films. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Being John Malkovich (1999) and for her portrayal of author Harper Lee in Capote (2005).

<i>The Wedding Date</i> 2005 romantic comedy directed by Clare Kilner

The Wedding Date is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Clare Kilner and starring Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, and Amy Adams. Based on the 2002 novel Asking for Trouble by Elizabeth Young, the film is about a single woman who hires a male escort to pose as her boyfriend at her sister's wedding in order to dupe her ex-fiancé, who dumped her a few years prior. The film was released on February 4, 2005 and grossed $47 million.

<i>The Family Stone</i> 2005 American dramedy film

The Family Stone is a 2005 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Thomas Bezucha. Produced by Michael London and distributed by 20th Century Fox, it stars an ensemble cast, including Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Dermot Mulroney, Sarah Jessica Parker, Luke Wilson, Claire Danes, Rachel McAdams, and Tyrone Giordano.

<i>Silent Tongue</i> 1994 film

Silent Tongue is a 1994 American Western horror film written and directed by Sam Shepard. It was filmed in the spring of 1992, but not released until 1994. It was filmed near Roswell, New Mexico and features Richard Harris, Sheila Tousey, Alan Bates, Dermot Mulroney and River Phoenix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbie Cornish</span> Australian actress and musical performer (born 1982)

Abbie Cornish is an Australian actress and rapper. In film, Cornish is known for her roles as Heidi in Somersault (2004), Fanny Brawne in Bright Star (2009), Sweet Pea in Sucker Punch (2011), Lindy in Limitless (2011), Clara Murphy in RoboCop (2014), and Sarah in Geostorm (2017). She worked with writer/director Martin McDonagh in Seven Psychopaths (2012) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). For the latter, Cornish won her first Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the cast. In 2018, she portrayed Cathy Mueller in the first season of Amazon Video series Jack Ryan opposite John Krasinski, a role she reprised in the fourth and final season in 2023. She also played Dixy in the film The Virtuoso (2021) alongside Anthony Hopkins.

<i>Candy</i> (2006 film) 2006 Australian film

Candy is a 2006 Australian romantic drama film, adapted from Luke Davies's 1998 novel Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction. Candy was directed by debut filmmaker Neil Armfield and stars Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish and Geoffrey Rush.

Samantha is a 1991 American film starring actress Martha Plimpton. Though at the time Plimpton was already a film actress for nearly ten years, this was the first vehicle in which she was the star. The film co-starred Dermot Mulroney, Hector Elizondo, Mary Kay Place and Ione Skye. It was a commercial failure, with mixed critical reviews.

<i>Investigating Sex</i> 2001 film by Alan Rudolph

Investigating Sex is a 2001 comedy-drama film written and directed by Alan Rudolph, starring Neve Campbell, Til Schweiger, Nick Nolte and Dermot Mulroney. The film is based on Investigating Sex: Surrealist Research 1928-1932, a book of Surrealist writers' discussions about sex led by André Breton and compiled by Jose Pierre.

<i>The Monkeys Mask</i> 2000 film by Samantha Lang

The Monkey's Mask is an international co-production 2000 thriller film directed by Samantha Lang. It stars Susie Porter and Kelly McGillis. Porter plays a lesbian private detective who falls in love with a suspect (McGillis) in the disappearance of a young woman. The film is based on the 1994 verse novel of the same name by Australian poet Dorothy Porter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jocelyn Moorhouse</span> Australian film director

Jocelyn Denise Moorhouse is an Australian screenwriter and film director. She is best known for directing films Proof, How to Make an American Quilt, A Thousand Acres and The Dressmaker.

<i>Bright Angel</i> 1990 American film

Bright Angel is a 1990 American drama film directed by Michael Fields, and starring Dermot Mulroney, Lili Taylor, and Sam Shepard. The film follows two teenagers, George and the transient Lucy, who travel from their home in Montana to Wyoming in order to help Lucy's brother escape from jail. It was adapted from a short story in Richard Ford's collection titled Rock Springs.

Blessings is a 2003 American made-for-television drama film directed by Arvin Brown. Based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Anna Quindlen, the film stars Mary Tyler Moore and Liam Waite.

<i>The Naughty Flirt</i> 1931 film

The Naughty Flirt is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by Edward Cline and starring Alice White, Paul Page and Myrna Loy.

The Heart of Justice, is a 1992 television film starring Eric Stoltz, Jennifer Connelly, Dermot Mulroney and Dennis Hopper. It was Vincent Price's final acting role before his death in 1993.

<i>The Family Tree</i> (film) 2011 American film

The Family Tree is a 2011 American comedy-drama film directed by Vivi Friedman and written by Mark Lisson. The film stars Dermot Mulroney, Hope Davis, Chi McBride, Max Thieriot, Britt Robertson, Selma Blair, and Christina Hendricks. It was given a limited release in the United States by Entertainment One on August 26, 2011.

<i>Radius</i> (film) 2017 film

Radius is a 2017 Canadian science fiction thriller film directed and written by Caroline Labrèche and Steeve Léonard. It stars Diego Klattenhoff, Charlotte Sullivan, and Brett Donahue. Klattenhoff and Sullivan play two survivors of a car accident who discover that one causes the death of anyone who comes within a certain radius of him, and the other has the ability to nullify this effect.

<i>The Wretched</i> (film) 2020 film by the Pierce Brothers

The Wretched is a 2019 American supernatural horror film written and directed by the Pierce Brothers. It stars John-Paul Howard, Piper Curda, Zarah Mahler, Kevin Bigley, Gabriela Quezada Bloomgarden, Richard Ellis, Blane Crockarell, Jamison Jones, and Azie Tesfai. The film follows a defiant teenage boy who faces off with an evil witch posing as the neighbor next door.

Odessa Zion Segall Adlon, also known as Odessa A'zion, is an American actress. On television, she is known for her roles in the CBS series Fam (2019) and the Netflix series Grand Army (2020). Her films include Hellraiser (2022), The Inhabitant (2022) and Sitting in Bars with Cake (2023).

<i>The Blazing World</i> (film) 2021 film by Carlson Young

The Blazing World is a 2021 American fantasy horror-thriller film written and directed by Carlson Young and co-written by Pierce Brown. The film stars Udo Kier, Dermot Mulroney, Vinessa Shaw, Soko, John Karna, Young and Edith González in her final film role before her death in 2019. The film is loosely inspired by Margaret Cavendish's 1666 work of the same name. In 2018, Young wrote, directed and starred in the short film of the same name, prior to expanding the basis and ideas for the full-length film. It is the first in a planned trilogy of films entitled Saturn Returns.

References

  1. 1 2 Nick Schager (2016-04-19). "'Lavender' Review: Abbie Cornish's Haunted House Movie". Variety . Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  2. "Cannes: Abbie Cornish, Dermot Mulroney Join 'Lavender'". The Hollywood Reporter. 2015-05-11. Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  3. Galuppo, Mia (January 26, 2017). "Samuel Goldwyn, AMBI Partner for Psychological Thriller 'Lavender'". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 12, 2017.
  4. "Lavender (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  5. "Lavender Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved October 18, 2019.