This is a small independent film that is its director, Russell Harbaugh’s, debut. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Andie MacDowell in anything but at the age of 60, she is a reasonably attractive woman and this film actually makes use of that. Unusually the male lead is her character’s son, played by Chris O’Dowd, making this about a dynamic between an adult mother and her son that we don’t often see.

Suzanne’s husband Glenn nears the end of life and easing his pain and suffering is a chore. The couple have two children both of whom are now middle-aged men, Nicholas and Chris. Nicholas in particular has a girlfriend Rebecca who he works with and brings with him to their family gatherings. When Glenn finally passes away, each of them has to deal with their grief in their own way. Suzanne lashes out one of her theatre students who she thinks dresses too provocatively and has sex with a colleague but feels guilty about it afterwards. Nicholas breaks up with Rebecca in favor of a younger girl. Eventually Suzanne gets into a serious relationship with another man who has a son of her own and Nicholas becomes resentful of the new addition to their family gatherings.

It’s a little hard to understand where this film is going as there are quite a few characters in the get togethers and it takes some effort to work out their relationships. Then there’s the tendency of the film to skip and skim lightly through the lives of the characters and we need to figure out what happened in the intervening time through context. For example, we never see when exactly Nicholas breaks up with Rebecca or how Suzanne met the new man in her life. It’s all quite confusing but once you get the hang of it, this understated style does help to give the sense that life goes on despite obstacles and difficulties. It feels real and natural where more conventional films feel like a series of staged dramatic moments.

There are a lot of things that I admire this film for: the acceptance that it is indeed okay to move on after a beloved spouse dies; its willingness to show that a 60-year woman is still sexually desirable and that, yes, it is difficult for the children to come to terms with that. I am a bit confused that the film shows Nicholas as being an asshole and Suzanne realizes this to some extent but they never have a confrontation over his awful treatment of women. I suppose that might be realistic, but it’s not very satisfying and the themes don’t seem to match.

Overall I found this very interesting but it’s a bit too diffuse in what it’s about and doesn’t speak to me, so I can’t say it’s one of my favorites. Very impressive work for a directorial debut however.