Genre: Romance/Drama
Director: Jean-Marc Vallee
Writer: Mo Buck
Based on the novel "Un homme et son péché" by Claude-Henri Grignon
Cast: Brie Larson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe, Jeremy Irons, Albert Brooks, Aaron Paul
Plot: In 1890's Quebec, Donalda (Brie Larson) is madly in love with the beautiful Alex (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a lumberjack who spends the majority of the summer in town. They're making out in Alex's bedroom, one last time before he has to leave to spend the winter working in the woods, when they hear someone knocking on the door. It's Father David (Jeremy Irons), the local priest, telling Alexis is father just died. Devastated, he says his goodbyes to Donalda, before leaving for the whole winter.
Alex's father left him the field he spent his life working on, but since Alex has to work in the woods during winter, it becomes on sale soon after his departure. The town's richest man, and also the mayor, Stephen (Willem Dafoe) buys the lot. Stephen has a lot of money and he doesn't trust the bank, so he keeps all his substantial amount of money at home. He never married anyone, living his solitary life just outside of town. He's making his fortune off other people, loaning them money with increasingly high interest. After he buys the field at a cheap price, he puts it back on sale for more than three times the price he paid for it.
Frank (Aaron Paul) loves to gamble, but the problem is, he's not really good at it. He spends the majority of his life gambling from town to town, always losing money. He also drinks a lot and disrespects his father, Thomas (Albert Brooks), who wants him to work on the family farm, Frank being his only son. Thomas loves his son, he always sends him cash when he sends a letter asking for some money. Thomas is getting old and he's working on the farm all alone and the money is hard to come by and one day, he decides that it's time to ask Stephen for some money. He accepts on one condition, he will marry the beautiful Donalda. Thomas, tired, hungry and defenceless, accepts.
Donalda and Stephen have a really modest wedding with nobody invited. She leaves her family's house to go live with old Stephen. Despite his massive fortune, Stephen lives like the poorest person in the world, barely eating and wearing the same clothes over and over again, just to avoid spending money. Donalda confronts her brother, blaming him for what's happening to her and he denies everything and clearly intoxicated, start to beat her, but Stephen stops him. Donalda finally sees something positive about Stephen, the man who many believe has a heart of stone.
The winter has passed and Alex is back in town. Donalda, who last a lot of weight after not being fed enough, finds a way to see her lover at least twice a week to make love. Alex wants to buy his father's field and plans to go ask Stephen. In the meantime, Father David, who's aware of their love affair, go tell Donalda's husband. When Alex asks him to buy the field, Stephen tells him that he will sell it to him at a much higher price than what it is in sale for. He accepts, but not before taking a loan from Stephen. Donalda returns home and Stephen tells her that he's going to please her and make her love like Alex. She refuses and he rapes her, repeatedly, at least once a week. She's still seeing Alex, but it's getting harder and harder, with Stephen constantly watching her.
Donalda eventually becomes pregnant and Stephen is absolutely sure he's not the father, so he stops feeding her as a punishment for what she did to him. She asks her father for help and mostly food, but he's buried under his debts to Stephen, he can barely survive himself, let alone his brother who finally started to help him on the farm. She goes to the church, asking Father David help, but he tells her that she asked for it by becoming pregnant from a man other than her husband. With nobody able to help her, Donalda eventually dies from Stephen's mistreatment.
At Donalda's funeral, Alex is suspiciously absent. The whole town is there to pay hommage to the mayor's deceased wife. Father David is reciting a prayer. In the meantime, Alex goes to Stephen's house, sets it on fire and leaves. When people start to see the smoke coming out of the house, everyone runs there, Stephen being the first to arrive. He goes in the house and Father David goes inside, trying to save the mayor. Alex is now all alone in front of Donalda's grave, crying. Father David is finally able to drag Stephen's dead body out of the house with the help of other men. They start asking why he went inside and they discover he hid in his pockets, his hat and his fists what he loved the most : money. The movie ends as we see Stephen's corpse with his money and Alex crying on Donalda's grave.
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