Originally Posted by
Florence 
I want to see this movie a lot. I read a great essay that mentioned this movie and the Julia Roberts character along with the "strong woman" tropes that we so love in the US, basically saying that what we consider a "strong woman" is someone who has been burdened with responsibilities and pain outside of her control and somehow kept it together. In other words, trauma. A lot of trauma.
That's the role Amy Morton played onstage (she was also George Clooney's sister in that movie where he was an airline pilot...can't remember the name). It's the singular most powerful performance I've ever witnessed, and Tracy Letts wrote it specifically for her. It's rare to see someone so unafraid to show their ugly side - rare and mesmerizing, in this case. I am avoiding seeing the film adaptation because I don't ever want to forget Morton's phenomenal performance as the eldest daughter of a pill-addicted mess of a narcissist (Deanna Dunagan onstage; Meryl Streep in the movie -- Meryl is genius but again, I'm happy to cherish Dunagan's performance for as long as my aging brain will retain it...
).