THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE
EBBING, MISSOURI
Director Martin McDonagh
Cert 15. 115mins
People are talking about this film. It won a Golden Globe, several Baftas and may do well at the Oscars.
It certainly contains a most memorable and haunting performance by Frances McDormand, as a mother overwhelmed by grief at the loss of her daughter who was raped and murdered.
The opening and concept of the film are intriguing. Mildred Hayes (McDormand) is angry that her daughter’s murderer has not been found and brought to justice. So she hires three billboards on a country road leading into this small Missouri town and puts up a message in three parts, demanding answers and putting the blame for the lack of progress squarely on the weary shoulders of the Chief of Police. The innocent filmgoer might at this point settle back into his seat expecting a classic crime drama, a whodunit.
No grace
Forget that. This film is less interested in the crime and who did it than in the aftermath of that crime, especially on those closest to the victim. To lose a daughter in this way, it could surely be argued, is the worst thing that could happen to a mother. And as a portrayal of the agony, the anger and guilt which follow such a ghastly tragedy this film is compelling and masterful.
The persona of Mildred Hayes has been hailed as a role-model for women to get out there and get angry. But the anger in this film is vindictive, violent, unreasonable and unjust. One reviewer praised it as ‘a raging classic that defines our times’. Sadly that may be true: angry women, ineffectual men, but no resolution, no truth, no justice, despite all the shouting, and in particular, no grace. Not even a speck anywhere.
If you want to spend a few hours being made miserable, book in for a decent production of King Lear. At least the misery is accompanied by uplifting poetry.
