American Pastoral is a 2016 American crime-drama film directed by Ewan McGregor (in his feature directorial debut) and with a screenplay by John Romano, based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Philip Roth. The film stars McGregor, Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, Peter Riegert, Rupert Evans, Uzo Aduba, Molly Parker and David Strathairn. Principal photography began on September 21, 2015, in Pittsburgh.
The film had its world premiere on September 9, 2016, at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and was theatrically released in the United States on October 21, 2016, by Lionsgate.
Plot
In 1996, at the 45th-year reunion of the class of '51 at Weequahic High School in Newark, New Jersey, writer Nathan Zuckerman meets one of his old friends, Jerry Levov. They talk about Jerry's older brother, former all-state star athlete Seymour "Swede" Levov, class of '44, who recently died after a long illness.
The story moves back to a young Swede persuading his father, glovemaking magnate Lou Levov, to let him marry his high school sweetheart, New Jersey's 1947 Miss America contestant Dawn Dwyer. Lou is skeptical because Swede is Jewish and Dawn is a devout Roman Catholic, but her strength and honesty sways him. They have a daughter, Meredith ("Merry"), and settle in the town of Old Rimrock, where they acquire a farm, with Swede commuting the 30 miles to the Newark glove factory.
Smart and quirky Merry struggles with a stuttering problem, and is deeply affected as a 12-year-old by the self-immolation of Thích Quảng Đức in 1963. By the time Merry reaches high school, she has become increasingly radicalized towards Anarchism, as the Vietnam War rages, and frequently goes to New York City to take part in antiwar protests. When Merry lashes out during the 1967 Newark riots, Swede urges her to channel her energy into protesting against the war from closer to home. A few days later, the town's little post office and store is destroyed by a bomb, killing the owner.
Merry disappears, and is the FBI's prime suspect, though Swede and Dawn believe she is innocent or, if involved, being forced to act by older radicals she met in New York. Swede and Dawn visit Penny Hamlin, the wife of the store owner who was killed, to apologize. After Swede unsuccessfully hounds the FBI for information on Merry's whereabouts, 22-year-old Wharton Business School student Rita Cohen visits the factory, ostensibly working on a report for business class. Rita tips off Swede with credible information about Merry, hints that she knows Merry's whereabouts, then asks him to meet her at a hotel with $10,000 cash.
Swede meets Rita in the hotel room, but spurns her mean-spirited attempts to seduce him. Rita runs off with the money and leaves no further information regarding Merry. The strain of Merry's disappearance eventually causes Dawn to have a nervous breakdown. After treatment, Dawn seeks a facelift and starts an affair with a neighbor. She tells Swede that Merry has destroyed their former life, and tries to get Swede to forget about Merry so that they can start a new life.
In 1970, Swede spots Rita on a New York City street. Rita takes him to a skid-row area of Newark where Merry now lives. During two brief visits, Merry confesses to Swede that she made and planted a total of 3 bombs, killing 4 people. She tells of how she later slid into the underground, where she was robbed and raped. She has withdrawn from society, and is practicing extreme asceticism within the Indian Jain religion, which Swede attributes to her penance. In the quiet of her unkempt and simple life style her stutter has ceased. She has no desire to return home, and says that if he loves her, he will let her be. The years pass as Swede returns occasionally to stand outside the abandoned house where he last found Merry without ever seeing her again.
In the present, at Swede's funeral, Nathan muses that we know we are alive when we realize that "all the time... we are wrong" about our assumptions "about everyone". As the mourners are leaving, a cleaned up middle-aged Merry arrives, silently passing her uncle and mother as she walks to Swede's grave.