In American Beauty, the character of Ricky’s mother seems incredibly out of it for most of the movie. In one scene, the family is silently watching TV, and she says “I’m sorry, what?” as if she heard something no one else did. In another she is sitting alone at a table staring into space and has to be “woken up” as if from a trance. I got the feeling her husband was emotionally abusive, although nothing was ever stated to that effect. Did she have a cognitive breakdown? What was the reason for her behavior?
Just a personal guess, but I always figured she was supposed to be the opposite end of the spectrum from his dad: one totally controlling, one totally unengaged. But I suspect there’s more to it that I’m missing.
There’s absolutely something mentally abnormal about Ricky’s mother. Just what it is, is never specified; it’s ambiguous. It could be the result of some mental illness that is simply not addressed, or it could also be due to abuse of prescription medications, either tranquilizers or opiates or both.
I always understood it has her being broken. She has been married for many years to a very controlling and opinionated husband (who is also secretly homosexual) and I think she just lost her courage and hopes and dreams and just settled–so, broken.
In other words, she is what Lester was heading for, if he hadn’t had his epiphany.
By the by, am I the only one here who can’t see a discarded plastic grocery bag blowing around in the street without thinking, “This is the most beautiful trash bag in the whole world!”
+1
“You end up like a dog that’s been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up”
Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA
I always figured she was just emotionally wasted.
It’s just some trash blowing in the wind! Do you have any idea how complicated your circulatory system is?!
“The symbols of the divine initially show up at the trash stratum.” - Philip K. Dick.
+1
I can’t seem to google up the dialog, but when Ricky has decided to leave home, he has a brief goodbye talk with his mother, saying something like “I know it’s been hard for you” something something. Is there a clue there?
I’d just like to note - because no-one else has - that the character in question was played by the wonderful Allison Janney.
I haven’t seen the movie in years, but at the time I remember thinking she was clearly schizophrenic. Her controlling, closet case of a husband certainly wouldn’t have helped matters – and he probably would not have been in favor of therapy or psychiatric treatment either – but I don’t think he can be blamed for her flat affect and apparent auditory hallucinations. Schizophrenia tends to manifest itself later in women than in men, and it’s not that unusual for a woman to marry and have children before she starts to show symptoms.
I haven’t seen the movie in a while and I don’t recall this at all. What were the clues to her apparent auditory hallucinations?
I don’t think it has to be taken that far - she’s a beaten/broke woman with no sense of worth - probably hasn’t been properly laid in years, married to an abusive closet homosexual - she’s clinically depressed and detached from life.
The husband doesn’t see it because she’s just part of his collection - the son sees it but can do nothing to change it.
She may have other issues (and likely does) - but she doesn’t need any real maladies to be in the shape shes in - just years of abuse and neglect.
It’s in the OP – she reacts as if someone spoke to her when the rest of the family is silently watching television. Since this is one of the very few scenes in which Ricky’s mom says anything at all, I think it’s meant to be important.
I don’t recall there being any signs that her husband was abusive towards her. He certainly wasn’t affectionate, but as far as I recall there was no indication that he struck her, yelled at her, or harshly criticized her. He seemed okay with just leaving her alone.
You describe her as clinically depressed, that’s a “real malady”. But while depression could explain why she sits around silently doing nothing, it wouldn’t cause her to hear voices.
I think what I was trying to say was that the father was the cause of her issues - not that depression wasn’t a ‘real malady’. As for the father being abusive or not, if I recall correctly, the son certainly had signs of having been physically abused - and she seemed (in atleast one scene or another) to play the role of the “too scared to disagree” abused wife - and even if not, that is what I read into the scenes.
But its been too many years, and I may be misremembering all of it -
It is possible to have Major Depressive Disorder that manifests with psychotic symptoms such as auditory hallucinations. I think that’s a much more likely explanation in this scenario if we’re going to posit that her “I’m sorry, what?” is an indication of auditory hallucinations rather than just a manifestation of her drifting off in a depressive state.
It may be a mistake for me to read so much into one line, but if she were meant to be “drifting off” in the TV scene then having her say “I’m sorry, what?” in response to someone actually speaking directly to her would have made more sense. Her other scenes made it clear that she wasn’t engaged with what was going on around her, so there was no reason to have another scene do the same thing in a more ambiguous manner. I can buy that she was hearing things for reasons other than schizophrenia, but I don’t see any point to her line in the TV scene unless it was meant to indicate that she was indeed hearing things.
he says “i wish things could have been better for you.” this is right after he reveals to her that he’s running away and her response is “okay. wear a raincoat.”
i tend to agree that she was just broken. i don’t think she was meant to be schizophrenic.
It just occurred to me; if someone had never seen this movie, but read this thread, they would probably think, “Well, THAT’S one depressing movie I don’t need to see!”
They would be wrong, of course; it’s a fabulous movie, and uplifting at the same time that it is depressing. But I thought it was amusing how our discussion is focusing on the downer aspects of it.