Genre: Drama
Director: Sally Potter
Writer: Ann Morrow & Harry Wright
Based on the short film Marguerite
Cast: Lupita Nyong'o, Rosemary Harris, Patricia Clarkson, Rosamund Pike, Madison Iseman, Jack Reynor, Olivia Colman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jessica Barden, Mark Gatiss, Max Charles
Plot: Julia (Lupita Nyong’o) gets off the bus in front of a retirement home. She was just hired as a patient attendant there and it’s her first day, she’s feeling a bit nervous. She enters and the lady at the reception gives Julia her credentials and another lady is gives her a quick tour of the small, but lovely home. When they get back to the lobby, Julia’s boss, James (Mark Gatiss)gives Julia her first assignment and he warns her that this woman is particularly difficult and should require extreme care, but the current situation of the retirement home and the lack of patient attendants makes it impossible. The woman has dementia and is probably the most difficult patient to tend to. Julia is offended that they treat a poor, old woman like that and says she’ll do her best. He wishes her luck and Julia says she won’t need it.
Julia knocks on the door and waits for a signal or for someone to open the door, but it doesn’t happen. She tries to open and it wasn’t locked, so she enters the room. The smell is really bad, but it’s not the rooms who smell bad, it’s… someone. She finds the woman, Suzanne (Rosemary Harris) is her name. She tells her that the way they were talking about her in the lobby made her expect a despicable old lady, but she seems quite nice, she’s even cute, to which Julia gets no response. Suzanne stinks, it’s been a while since anyone took care of her. Julia says it’s time for Suzanne to take a bath. She doesn’t answer, but she gets up and heads for the bathroom. She complies and gets in the bath Julia prepared for her and that’s when she speaks for the first time. When I was younger, people like you wouldn’t have been able to do this. It shocks Julia a bit and answers that she’s doing it now and she starts to understand why people don’t like coming into her room. Suzanne says it’s not her fault she had dementia and people aren’t comprehensive, which touches Julia. She bathes her in silence as Suzanne tells her she had a unconventional life. Julia, unable to sustain the silence any longer, asks Suzanne to tell her life story.
She decides to start her story when she gives birth to her son. Suzanne (Rosamund Pike) refused to have a C-section, insisting on giving birth naturally, which baffled his doctor. Her husband isn’t present and when they asked her if she wanted them to try to call him, she refused. When it’s all over, they give her the baby, but she doesn’t seem happy. When they put her in a separate room, with the baby sleeping next to her, her boyfriend, Dave (Jack Reynor) finally arrived. He’s just happy to see the baby and he barely looks at Suzanne. When he leaves, Suzanne starts to cry in her hospital bed. Julia asks Suzanne why her boyfriend acted that way and she answers that she grew up really religious and her pregnancy happened while she wasn’t married, so it wasn’t well received, and abortion, of course, wasn’t an option. She didn’t want to have a child. Then, Suzanne becomes silent again.
When Julia is done bathing her, she sits her on her rocking chair and she asks her what she wants to do now. She says it’s been a while since someone cooked something for her, something good and because it’s still early in the morning, she decides to make her an omelette, Suzanne starts to talk about her teen years.
Suzanne (Madison Iseman) lost both her parents at a young age in a tragic train accident, so was raised with nuns in a ultra-catholic setting, living with them and sharing their schedule. At least, she wasn’t the only teenager there, another one joined them, Liz (Jessica Barden) was her name. Her parents didn’t die, she wasn’t there for the same reasons, not at all. Liz was a juvenile delinquent and because the state had nowhere else to send them, they sent her with the nuns, hoping that they would get their life back on track. Suzanne recalls that one time, they were supposed to be praying, but they did something else instead, they ran away.
Even if the country is mostly deeply religious, people can’t help but turn their heads when they see two young teens dressed as nuns. They mostly walk around without any purpose, talking about what they would want to do if they ever get out of the nun’s home. Liz tells Suzanne what she used to do before they “locked her up in there”. She was mostly fooling around, stealing things and whatnot. She tells the one time she escaped from the police on foot and had to hide in a garbage bin just to get away from them. Suzanne’s childhood and early teenage years weren’t as bright and colorful, mostly following the nuns and praying. She received great instruction though, highly unusual for a girl in these times. Tired of being looked at, they decide to go in a store to get some clothes. Suzanne warns Liz that they don’t have any money, but she doesn’t care. They then proceed to steal some clothes discretely from a store without being seen. They change in a nearby alley and they share a laugh about it.
Julia is now done cooking Suzanne’s omelette. She says she’s tired and barely touches it. With Julia’s help, she lies in her bed and falls asleep. Julia decides to let her rest and puts the omelette in the fridge. She’ll come back later. She’s not as bad as people say.
Suzanne is awake, but too weak to get up, so she just lies and closes her eyes, that’s about as exciting as her days get since she got here. Julia comes back and starts to clean around the small room. She’s surprised by Suzanne’s voice who continues to tell her life story, but she skipped a couple of years. Julia noticed, but didn’t care. When Suzanne talks about her life, her eyes brighten and it looks like she enjoys it, so Julia doesn’t say a word and just smile while listening to her.
Suzanne (Patricia Clarkson) was tired of being a stay-at-home mom, so she decided that it was enough and found a job at a local newspaper, where she used her love of writing to write the news in the local paper. It’s her first day at her new job and she’s just happy to be there. She introduces herself around and they show Suzanne her office, it’s nice, she’ll like it. However, her boss comes around and says that she doesn’t have enough experience to write in the news section and she’s relegated to the love letters and sexology section in the newspaper. Disappointed, she gets up to close the blinds and she sees someone and looks twice, just to be sure it’s really her. She looks long enough that she’s caught starring. The woman knocks on Suzanne’s door and when she opens, you can clearly see the discomfort, it’s Liz (Kristin Scott Thomas). She closes the door immediately, as Liz tries to get her to open the door again.
Julia asks Suzanne why did she not want to see Liz after all these years and why did act that way. It’s enough for Suzanne to lost her thought and she takes a pause. Julia is slowly starting to like these little anecdotes, but her young heart can’t help but bleed a little when she hears the woman struggling to even talk.
Back in her teenage years, freshly after they stole some clothes from the store, Suzanne and Liz were hungry and they went to a restaurant to eat. Suzanne eats fast food for the first time of her life and is overwhelmed, not even believing that she lived without it for so many years. When she asks how they’re going to pay, Liz simply tells Suzanne to follow her lead. They both get up and head for the restroom, where they escape by the window, before casually strut down the street, like nothing happened. It’s getting dark out there and they have nowhere else to go. They decide to sneak back in the nunnery. They are able to do so and Liz says she wants to share Suzanne’s room tonight. They put on their night clothes and get into the bed. Liz then casually asks Suzanne if she pleasured herself at least once in her life. The answer is clearly no and Liz shows her how to. A nun passes in front and looks through the door.
Julia can’t believe Suzanne had a lesbian relationship, in a convent, in just before the 1940’s. Suzanne simply answers that she sinned, she sinned a lot in her life and she doesn’t say one more word, as if she was punishing herself. It is now the end of Julia’s shift and she wishes Suzanne a nice evening. She reports to James’ office to talk about her first day. She says, to his absolute disbelief that her favorite patient is Suzanne. She has such an interesting life and when you really take the time to listen to her, it makes her day. James says that today was probably a good day and she hasn’t seen the worst of it. He writes on her schedule that she will spending her entire day with Suzanne, because that’s what she wishes for.
The following day, when Julia enters Suzanne’s room, she’s already up and ready to go, already talking about her past life, as if she was telling herself a story. Suzanne was grocery shopping back in the 1950’s when she met the man that will share her life for at least five years. She met Dave (Jack Reynor) there and it immediately clicked. He talked to her a bit and they agreed to a date later that evening. Suzanne was overwhelmed, it was the first time in her life that a man showed interest in her. Of course, she went back to her apartment she shared with Liz (Olivia Colman) and shared the good news with her. For Suzanne, it was the perfect opportunity to finally live a formal life and to be a normal housewife, just like the traditional woman in her life. It directly conflicts with Liz’s lifestyle that she agreed to follow ever since they got out of the convent. They argued that afternoon, they argued a lot and when Suzanne finally left for her date, they weren’t on good terms. When she’s all alone, Liz is mad at her friend, her only friend, and she decides to follow her to see the man trying to steal her away from her. Suzanne is welcomed by Dave, a real gentleman. The date goes well, Suzanne remains mysterious about her past, she doesn’t want to reveal too much. Dave is a WWII veteran that was injured on-duty and has been living off his pension ever since, but he wants to get another job, he’s tired of doing nothing. He has frequent nightmares and judged unfit to work because he often has episodes, but people don’t know what they’re about and what causes them. They hit it off really well and they agree for a second date. When she senses the date is about to end, Liz leaves. Dave drives Suzanne to her place and he receives a peck on the cheek for it. When she gets back inside, Liz jumps on her. She tells her a man can’t steal her away from her, because deep down, she knows what Suzanne really is and they sleep together.
Julia now asks if that’s why Liz and her ended up not talking to each other like she told her the other day when she was working at the newspaper. Suzanne suddenly gets more serious and says it’s not. She switches her story right where she left off the last time and Liz surprised Suzanne in her office at the newspaper offices. Liz is trying to open the door as Suzanne panics, she swore to herself to never talk to her again and Liz swore it too. She finally lets her in and she tells this to her. Liz remembers that but it’s maybe destiny that brings them together once again, after years without seeing her. Suzanne disagrees and points at her crucifix she wears around her neck. They’ve sinned enough already. Liz says it’s not important anymore, Suzanne should stop living in the past. It’s time for the emancipation and to set herself free from the cocoon that she wrapped herself into at such a young age. Suzanne says Liz has change, but she says she only let the religion out of her life. She wants only a dinner with Suzanne, so she can try to repair the bond she broke a decade ago. Suzanne categorically refuses and throws her out of her office. She starts to write to get this moment out of her head.
Julia interrupts Suzanne as it’s time for her to eat, but unlike the day before, Suzanne finishes her plate, when Julia helps her to eat. Julia, who’s starting to understand Suzanne doesn’t like to tell things in a chronological order, asks Suzanne what happened when the nun caught her when she was younger.
She was flagellated, as a way to beg pardon to God. When Liz and her examined their backs, you can see the marks left by the belt. They were forced to pray all day, but when the night came, they decided that they had had enough and that’s not the life they wanted, so they agreed to run away. They gathered the clothes they stole (actually the only normal clothes they owned) and they left, just like that. Immediately when they stop running, Suzanne tells Liz that she regrets the decision, but she’s reassured that it’s going to be alright. They wander around in the streets at night and a police officer stops them, asking what in the world two young teens are doing late at night in the streets like that. Suzanne says they have nowhere else to go and Liz hits her on the arm for saying that. He can’t do anything for them, but he redirects them to a female homeless shelter and, on Suzanne’s insistence, that’s where they go. When they settle down in their room, showered and everything, finally free from the nuns’ yoke, they have sex, free sex.
She transitions rather quickly to her having rough sex for Dave, her first time with a man, after their fourth date. She didn’t know it at the time, but Liz was in the apartment at that time and she saw them. The following day, when Suzanne emerged out of her room, Liz confronted her about it and she points at Suzanne’s crucifix, reminding her that sex out of wedlock is not accepted by religion to which Suzanne responds that she will pray to ask for forgiveness. Liz gets out and she heads to Dave’s place. She’s been following them ever since they started to date and she confronts him about his relationship with Suzanne. She says she’s already in her life and that he’s a bad man for engaging in a relationship with her and she knows he’s full of bullshit. Dave feels attacked and doesn’t know what to answer and Liz forces herself in his apartment. She wanders around and she tells Dave why he’s a bad person, but since Dave never told Suzanne the specific details of the conversation, the whole thing is just a blur, but it ends with Dave hitting Liz in the face and she has a mark to show it.
Julia wonders why their conversation ended up like that but she now knows why Suzanne wanted to get Liz out of her life, she doesn’t seem like the kind of woman you would want in your life, she seems needy and controlling. It’s now time for the bath and Suzanne goes back in time again.
When Suzanne gets home from her first day at the job, she takes off her shoes and lies on the sofa, still thinking about what happened today. Someone knocks at her door and it’s Liz. When asked how she knows where Suzanne lives, she answers that it’s because she’s the head of HR and she had access to her address. Suzanne says it’s unethical and asks her to leave, but Liz had another plan in mind. Since she refused her dinner invitation, she brought wine and glasses, enters and locks the door. Suzanne sighs and asks her to leave again, but Liz says she has no intention to leave. They talk about what happened in their life since Suzanne threw Liz out of her life (understandably, according to Liz herself), but the conversation doesn’t really goes anywhere. Liz asks Suzanne if she still has “it”, the thing they gave each other to remind themselves about what drew them apart. Suzanne goes in her bedroom and she grabs a picture of herself and Liz when they were young and on the back, they wrote in red ink that they would never see each other again. When she goes back in the dining room, Liz too, has her picture and Suzanne asks her why did she break the promise.
Julia asks Suzanne what was the picture as she gets Suzanne out of the bath and it transports Suzanne back in her teen years.
A couple of years after they ran away from the convent, Suzanne and Liz had their picture taken in the middle of the street and they thought it was fun, so they took another one, striking the same pose, so they could each have one in their purse. Suzanne is slowly getting used to their runaway lifestyle, but Liz is loving it. They compliment each other well, Suzanne’s quiet demeanor is balanced by Liz’s eccentricity. They are both adults, so they now have access to the welfare program set by the government. They use their first allocation to rent a small apartment. It’s the beginning of their new life. Guys flirt with them, but they show no interest. According to Liz, Suzanne has been chained long enough by religion and she needs to enjoy her freedom and not to settle down and chain herself again by living with a man. Overall, Suzanne is happy and she loves Liz, they’re inseparable.
For the first time since she ran away from the convent, Suzanne is unhappy, sad, is a better word. She’s pregnant and it’s starting to show, but she’s not married. People around them notice and being pregnant out of wedlock is probably the worst sin a woman can do in a religious society. Liz still reminds her of the day Dave hit her and Suzanne keeps thinking about the day he hit her too. Dave mistreated Suzanne after he learned that she was pregnant. He suffered from PTSD, which was undiagnosed at the time, and it often sent him in episodes of anger, in which he frequently hit Suzanne. Suzanne and Liz both decided to not let Dave in their life and they will raise her baby by themselves. They don’t want Dave in their lives anymore. Liz takes great pride that she saw who the man Dave was first.
Julia is now wondering what happened to her baby, because nobody ever comes to visit her. As they play checkers together, Suzanne jumps a little in time.
Suzanne was tired and couldn’t take it anymore. David (Max Charles), her son, is now a teenager and wants to meet his father. He wants to be able to share an interest with, as her mother doesn’t like anything he does. Suzanne doesn’t even like him and he knows, because he reminds her of Dave, by the way he acts, by the way he talks, and she doesn’t want to be reminded of him in any way. David looks all over his mom’s room, searching for a picture of his father, but she threw them all away (she never took one with him to be honest). He stumbles on the picture with Liz. He wonders who the woman is and Suzanne says it’s his aunt Liz, but she’s dead and quickly places the picture right back in the album.
Julia, who’s now cooking diner, wants to know what is the thing about the picture, what was so important in her life that forced her to not talk to Liz for years, when they looked like they were best friends. Suzanne picks up right where she left off when she was having dinner with Liz. They show the picture to one another. Suzanne asks her again why did Liz break the promise. Liz says Suzanne wasn’t happy anymore, she wasn’t the Suzanne she knew and when she saw her again, she looked happy and realised she had moved on and was ready to welcome her in her life again. Suzanne is now boiling with rage. She says she hasn’t moved on, she punishes herself everyday and was sad for years after it happened. She put up her son for adoption, a son she never liked. She keeps thinking about that day, the day they plotted together, the day they held the knife together, her favorite knife, the sharp one with hearts carved on the handle, and killed Dave, after he had hit her again. She remembers it every night and prays to God every night that he forgives her. She killed Dave and she regrets it ever since, so no she hasn’t moved on and she’s not doing good.
Julia can’t believe what she just heard, she looks at her hand, she just cut herself after she heard this brutally honest confession. She looks at the knife, hearts carved on the handle, she lets a scream out and drops the knife on the ground, blood dripping on the sharp edge. Suzanne is standing still, asking Julia if she’s alright, as if she already forgot about what she just told her.
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