In “Hereditary” (2018), Toni Collette plays Annie, a woman on the edge after the deaths of her mother and daughter. Her buried anger and resentment comes forward during an emotionally disturbing family dinner.
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A mother unleashes the fullness of her rage and resentment over a tense family dinner in Ari Aster's "Hereditary"
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Telling the truth is one of the scariest things a person can do.
In Ari Aster’s feature film debut, “Hereditary,” the death of her mother has Annie (Toni Collette) struggling to cope with the heartbreak of losing a loved one crossed with the unresolved complications of their strained parent-child relationship. This is a tension she projects onto and works out through her own strained relationships with her children, Peter (Alex Wolff) and Charlie (Milly Shapiro).
All this tension reaches its boiling point during a family dinner shortly after the devastating death of Charlie. The family eats silently, until Peter decides to ask, “You okay, mom?” There begins the passive-aggressive dance between mother and son which culminates with Annie smacking her hand on the table and screaming at Peter, whom she blames for the death of Charlie, “I am your mother. All I do is worry and slave and defend you. And all I get back is that [expletive] face on your face!”
“Hereditary” will eventually descend into a fever dream of cults, demonic chants, and naked old people grinning as they anticipate the coming of their demon savior, but in this moment, around a dinner table, the deep dark resentment that often stirs in a parent’s heart swirled and charged forth as a full force gale of venomous rage. It doesn’t get more truthful than this.