In August in Osage County

Movie
German title	In August in Osage County
Original title	August: Osage County
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2013
length	121 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12 ; JMK 12
Rod
Director	John Wells
script	Tracy Letts
production	George Clooney , ; Jean Doumanian , ; Grant Heslov , ; Steve Traxler , ; Harvey Weinstein
music	Gustavo Santaolalla
camera	Adriano Goldman
cut	Stephen Mirrione
occupation
	Meryl Streep : Violet Weston; Julia Roberts : Barbara "Barb" Weston; Chris Cooper : Charlie Aiken; Ewan McGregor : Bill Fordham; Margo Martindale : Mattie Fae Aiken; Sam Shepard : Beverly Weston; Dermot Mulroney : Steve Huberbrecht; Julianne Nicholson : Ivy Weston; Juliette Lewis : Karen Weston; Abigail Breslin : Jean Fordham; Benedict Cumberbatch : "Little Charles" Aiken; Misty Upham : Johnna;

In August Osage County (Original title: August: Osage County ) is an American family drama from John Wells from the year 2013 with Meryl Streep in the title role . It is a literary film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize- winning stage work of the same name by Tracy Letts .

action

The film is about the generation conflict between a mother and her three daughters. The name of the film is derived from the location of the plot, Osage County in the US state of Oklahoma . At the beginning of the film, Beverly Weston, with his wife Violet , who was addicted to pills , hired the American native Johnna as a housekeeper and carer. Johnna is referred to by Violet as "the Indian woman"; Another dispute breaks out in the course of the film about this politically incorrect designation. Beverly, himself a retired teacher and poet, is said to have become addicted to alcohol. When he disappears shortly afterwards, the two distant daughters Barbara and Karen are informed and travel with their partners and their only granddaughter Jean to their mother Violet in Osage County, Oklahoma. The third daughter, Ivy, and Violet's sister, Mattie Fae, and her family are already there because they live nearby.

After five days, the father is found drowned. At the funeral dinner, which begins very formally, the smoldering family conflict escalates and as a result, some well-kept secrets are gradually revealed. Violet tries to keep the strings in her hand through open or hidden manipulation.

As the Matriarch had initially predicted, in the end all of her daughters will leave the house: first Karen flees the property, then Ivy. In the course of the plot, the latter had refused to be planned not only by her mother but also by her sisters as a companion and carer for her widowed mother. Even the favorite daughter Barbara, who seems to be most similar to her mother in character, but also fights her most violently, drives away in a pickup truck without turning back. The cancer-stricken mother remains in the care of Johnna.

background

The film production company Jean Doumanian Productions was involved in the realization of the film .

The production period of August: Osage County was from August 20, 2012 to July 28, 2013. The film was shot from October 15, 2012 to December 8, 2012 in Oklahoma and Los Angeles . The film budget was estimated at 25 million US dollars .

August: Osage County was first shown to the public on September 9, 2013 at the Toronto International Film Festival . The cinema release in the USA was on January 10, 2014. In Germany , the film was released on March 6, 2014.

reception

The movie August: Osage County received mostly positive reviews. On the Web site Rotten Tomatoes , the film reached 64 percent of the reviewers a positive rating.

In Die Zeit the following formulation can be found: This is where the stars let off steam: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Benedict Cumberbatch have a top-class exchange of blows in “August in Osage County”.

Kai Mihm from epd Film awarded 3 out of 5 stars. He criticized the fact that the film, designed as “the dismantling of an American middle-class family”, lacks the courage “to really go to the limits of pain during conflicts.” Despite the great cast and good camera work, the film was “inconsistent in content”.