Diane is a 2018 American drama film written and directed by Kent Jones. The film stars Mary Kay Place, Jake Lacy, Deirdre O'Connell, Andrea Martin and Estelle Parsons. For her performance in the film, Place won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress.
It had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 22, 2018. It was released on March 29, 2019, by IFC Films.
Plot
Diane Rhodes is a sixtysomething widow living in Pittsfield, Massachusetts whose days are taken up through service to others. She makes a to-do list for her day, before delivering a casserole to friends, one of whom is recovering from a recent accident. She makes a brief stop to pick a teacher friend from school before delivering clean clothes to her adult son Brian. Brian, a heroin addict and alcoholic, lives in squalor with his likewise addict girlfriend Carla.
When Diane arrives at Brian’s apartment, to which she has a key, she finds him passed out on the couch. She wakes him and they proceed to argue about his sobriety. He claims to be suffering from bronchitis and is angered at Diane’s insinuation that he is not sober and needs to go back to the hospital where he detoxed. After she leaves, Diane visits her cousin Donna, who is in the hospital suffering from advanced cervical cancer. Donna is asleep when she arrives and Diane engages in banal conversations with the nursing staff.
The next days pass similarly, with Diane visiting Brian and Donna in succession. Brian continues to object to his mother’s visits, while Donna rejects her nurses’ offer of morphine and instead engages in playing gin rummy with Diane. After Donna’s pain increases, Diane calls her aunt Madge, who a neighbor drives to the hospital. Donna is visibly soothed by her mother’s presence.
Diane drives Madge to a family gathering with her aunts and uncles. After a tense exchange with her eldest aunt Ina, her aunt Mary tells a story about an encyclopedia salesman. Diane goes to dinner at a buffet restaurant with her best friend Bobbie. They have a conversation about how many people their age are dying.
Diane volunteers at a soup kitchen, where one of her favorite regulars, Tom, engages her in friendly conversation. Diane shows herself to have close familiarity with the layout of the kitchen and how much food should be out at any one time. When the power goes out, Diane and the other workers bring lit candles to the tables so the people can eat in peace.
During Diane’s visits, Brian begins to visibly worsen. On one of her last visits, she finds him passed out in the bathroom and turns the shower on to shock him awake. She angrily tells him that he has to go back to the hospital and he lashes out verbally. Diane slaps him and leaves. At a subsequent dinner with Bobbie, she angrily states how tired she is of everyone talking about Brian, including her. Bobbie distracts her by talking about the history of the buffet restaurant they are eating at and how terrible the food is, which makes Diane laugh. When a server arrives at their table, Diane lies about how much they are enjoying the food.
While visiting Donna, Diane has an uncomfortable conversation with her about an incident in 1999 when their family was visiting Cape Cod when Diane left Brian and her husband at the family home and took off with Donna’s boyfriend, Jess. Diane asks Donna if she has forgiven Diane. Donna pointedly says, “I’ve forgiven you, but I haven’t forgotten,” and tells Diane how much it hurt for her to take care of Brian while Diane left with Jess. Diane takes her coat and leaves. Diane visits Brian’s apartment to find out he has disappeared. She searches for him and calls his phone to no avail. She visits on several subsequent days, but he does not reappear.
On a night where Diane works at the soup kitchen, Tom is reprimanded by another worker for attempting to go through the serving line a third time. Diane intervenes, tells Tom to get as much food as he wants, and upbraids the other worker, yelling at her about how she has no right to humiliate people just because they are poor. Bobbie pulls Diane into a side room and tells her that she must get some peace. As Diane struggles to regain her composure, Bobbie gently tells her to take as much time as she needs “and come out when you’re good and ready.”