Hateship Loveship (2014)

Dir. Liza Johnson (USA)

It's hard to hate when a comedic actor takes to serious dramatic roles and does it well. Kristen Wigg portrays care-giver Johanna Perry who when suddenly finds herself alone late in life must scramble together what do do next and find out what life is like for people outside the roles and responsibilities of caring for another individual as a full-time non-stop job and IF see will be able to manage this... if it is not too late..

I had watched this film earlier this year and had stomached it well enough but something about it left me rather unsettled, for a select few who can relate, the film permeates something on a much deeper level than those who merely see a compelling but often unrewarding indie drama.

We start with getting a glimpse of what Johanna's current life is like before moving her into her odyssey. As a caretaker, she starts her day by running water, opening curtains, and smelling a whiff of the old woman's depends... Something she does without wincing giving us the unwritten details that she has become desensitized towards this and regards this as normal behavior. A chilling moment that immediate sent me into my own thoughts and world inside. Too old to be a mother, she yet retains much of the same responsibilities you would expect for someone her age to be doing with maybe a toddler.

The film really begins though at the end of the elder woman's life. We witness Johanna's reaction which is stoic but responsible - a moment she has long prepared for - as she cleans and dresses the body to be taken away by coroners. A sign of love and respect and maybe a small dose of comedy as we realize what a feat it is to undertake dressing a corpse. All of which she does without any horror or sorrow at the task and even puts on earrings and dresses her hair before calling the coroner.

Johanna's enters her new place of employment by walking into a family controversy. Ken (Guy Pierce) is having a terse conversation about a new "opportunity" with Mr. McCauley (Nick Nolte) who is raising Ken's daughter Sabitha (Hailey Steinfeld). Ken paces while Sabitha asks her grandfather to "please leave him [Ken] alone". We see Johanna has fit her life's possessions into one suitcase and a bag. A sad but poignant detail in passing.

While orienting herself around her new living space she opens the door on Ken using Mr. McCaulay's prescription pain killers. Indicating that Ken is living with addiction issues and clarifying some of the mistrust we witnessed earlier in McCauley's demeanor. When he asks Johanna to keep the situation a secret a small compliment paid to Johanna makes her smile, and we see that she has been love starved for affection for an unknown period of time having sacrificed more than a career and children for her previous employer but also a fulfilling love life with a partner.

In a brief written exchange that is intercepted and then manipulated by Sabitha and her best friend edith (Sami Gayle). The two teens set off to manipulate Johanna by creating a false email address for Ken and emailing back and forth for an extended period of time. We still learn next to nothing about Johanna as the details surrounding her are not suspected to be interesting but we do learn that her father had died and she was in charge of Mrs.Willits since she was 15. It's clear to us that Ken is the first person in her life in decades who has shown the slightest interest in getting to know who she really is.

After a falling out between Sabitha and edith, edith takes revenge on her friendship with Sabitha by sabotaging Johanna and by telling her as Ken, to move to Chicago where they can begin a new life together setting Johanna up for a heartbreak of immense proportions.

Johanna arrives in Chicago to Ken's empty and dilapidated hotel. Jimmying a window she lets herself inside to discover Ken's interior apartment is akin to his state of mind: dirty, disheveled and in desperate need of care. While Ken sleeps, Johanna makes herself immensely useful by beginning to care for the space by cleaning, organizing, buying food and attending to drug infused Ken clearly coming down from a high. When he awakes and she realizes the ruse, she sets to work harder at cleaning, clearly funneling her rage and frustration into the only area of control she feels she has. Ken is confused but convinces her to stay until they can sort out the situation but quickly becomes enamored by her warmth and clear devotion to another human being, although her money is also an attraction for him as he rifles through her purse to fetch a few loose hundred dollar bills.

Johanna meets Ken's girlfriend who is clearly more up his alley but is jealous when she learns Johanna's intimate connection with his daughter and the improvements to both Ken's health, mood, and living space which she clearly excels at. As Ken's life improves he finds the will and courage to break away from his addiction to narcotics, end his previous relationship, and begin to make improvements in his work by beginning to sustain the energy and life will to complete the long-standing renovations to the hotel with Johanna's help eventually ending in an unexpected pregnancy and engagement.

It certainly is not a glamorous or smooth transition from a solitary life of solitude and service, but it is a hopeful one and probably more realistic than I care to imagine for myself, but with a little luck and forced optimism I can also see myself eventually finding someone who would let me love and care for them the way Johanna has loved and cared for the people in her own world.