We stand on the peripherals of the Weston family, watching the dysfunction, quietly knowing we will be sucked right in at any moment. When that happens, we are privy not only to their eccentricities and delusions, but to the downright disintegration of human relationships.

The Weston daughters are fighting their own battles, have their own secrets and exercise a certain amount of denial (as we all do) to survive. It’s when their mother, the superlative Meryl Streep, displays her own truths, she upsets a precarious balance barely maintained by her girls. Julia Roberts as the oldest, matches Meryl in every frame. The eyes play table tennis watching one volleying the other. Extended members of the family are struggling with their own failures and shortfalls, projecting them on their fragile loved ones.

Our laughter was laced with nervousness and relief, when the tragedy turned to comedy for brief moments .To say the film is dark would be an understatement. The temperatures are soaring, the mood is stifling, the characters are on edge. Morality, logic and maturity take a back seat, whilst every form of shocking behaviour becomes the ‘normal and mundane’.

3/5