The
Member of the Wedding
Growing up is the one thing that one can't teach you how to
do...
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| U.S. southern states, in the 1940s: Twelve-year-old Frankie Addams (Anna Paquin) has to face the problems of adolescence. Her father isn't very helpful in this process; he spends most of his time in his clock-shop and doesn't show much interest for his daughter. |
| Also, Frankie does
not succeed in making friends of her age and so, there's only the family
cook, Bernice Sadie Brown (Alfre Woodard), to talk with about her
problems. Frankie spends a lot of time in the kitchen with Bernice and
her six-year-old cousin John Henry, discontented both with her life and
her appearance, wishing to be "somebody else".
When her brother, who has been a soldier in Alaska, marries, Frankie is deter- mined to use this occasion. As she has been imagining his life to be special, Frankie plans to stay with her brother at his home Winter Hill. But although announcing her plans to everybody she |
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sees (including her
brother), nobody seems to listen to Frankie except Bernice. The latter,
however, doesn't know either how to hold her back.
On a goodbye walk through her home town, Frankie unwittingly enters an obscure pub, the "Blue Moon", where she is molested by a soldier. Defending herself with a vase, Frankie rushes home. But not even this traumatic experience seems to concern her father; he doesn't even look up from his paper. |
| The day after her brother's
wedding, Frankie takes her suitcase, willing to accompany the young couple
on their honeymoon. But her father pulls her out of the car, leaving Frankie
sitting on the grass, weeping for desperation and fury.
The following night, Frankie takes her father's revolver and some money to go "anywhere". The night train being due in several hours only, Frankie strolls through town and |
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| finally enters the "Blue
Moon". This is where the police discover her. Back at home, it's not
clear whether Frankie's father will change his indifferent behaviour towards
his daughter in future. At least, it appears that Frankie has matured by
this experience. |
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