Lavender (2016 film)

Lavender is a 2016 American-Canadian drama film directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly and written by Colin Frizzell and Ed Gass-Donnelly. The film stars Abbie Cornish, Dermot Mulroney, Justin Long, Diego Klattenhoff, Peyton Kennedy and Lola Flanery. The film was released on DirecTV on February 3, 2017, before being released on VOD and in theaters on March 3, 2017, by Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Lavender
Film poster
Directed byEd Gass-Donnelly
Produced byEd Gass-Donnelly
David Valleau
Written byColin Frizzell
Ed Gass-Donnelly
StarringAbbie Cornish
Dermot Mulroney
Justin Long
Diego Klattenhoff
Peyton Kennedy
Lola Flanery
Music bySarah Neufeld
Colin Stetson
CinematographyBrendan Steacy
Edited byDev Singh
Production
company
South Creek Pictures
3 Legged Dog Films
Distributed bySamuel Goldwyn Films
Release date
Running time
93 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
Canada
LanguageEnglish

Plot

In 1985, police officers tell Patrick that something has happened to his brother and his family. Jane, a blood-covered young teenager, is found by an officer. Lavender Blue plays in the background. Jane is raised by a foster family and has no memory of her family or the tragedy.

In 2010, Jane owns a studio, selling photographs she takes of abandoned farmhouses. She has a strained relationship with her husband Alan and their young daughter Alice, partly because she has memory lapses. On one excursion, Jane is mysteriously drawn to the farmhouse from the beginning of the film, taking photos while Alice wanders through the field chatting with an invisible girl. Days later, when Jane is briefly distracted while driving, a girl appears in the road. Jane swerves and her car flips. Jane wakes up in the hospital but doesn't know Alan and Alice. A doctor explains that the crash aggravated a childhood head injury, the reason for her missing childhood. Jane is visited by Liam, the hospital's psychiatrist.

Jane receives a mysterious gift, a music-box dancer and a photo from 1985 of the farmhouse she recently photographed. The property records reveal that Jane owns the farmhouse and it has been cared for by Patrick, who is her uncle. Liam suggests that Jane visit the house to try to recover repressed memories.

When Jane is released from hospital, the family decides to visit the farmhouse and meet Patrick, who lives at the next farm. Jane finds a red balloon in the fields, with a key on a "Welcome Home" tag. A clerk at a local antiques store shows Jane a framed front page of a 1985 newspaper, detailing the massacre of her family and the suspicion that Jane was responsible. Jane sees Liam, but he leaves before she can approach him.

Jane receives another gift box with a torn family photo featuring young Jane, Susie, and a blurry image of their mother, Jennifer. That night, Jane wakes to see Susie, her young self, and a blurry version of her mother. Susie implores Jane to "come find us". The next morning Jane visits Patrick, who says that Jane is the only one who knows what happened to her family in 1985. Jane later sees Susie in the barn, who says that they need to hide from "the monster". At the same time, Alice is telling Alan that the girl has warned her about the monster in the bedroom, while a nice lady has taught her the "Lavender" song.

Jane insists that they leave. They hear Alice scream and she tells them the man was chasing her. She begins to have an asthma attack, and the spirits won't let Jane leave the house when Alan rushes Alice to the hospital. Jane finds a music box in Suzie's room, containing the other half of the torn family photo, revealing Liam to be Jane's father. Susie appears, frightened, when an unseen man enters the room.

Jane finally remembers what happened the night her family died: She was babysitting when Susie heard Patrick enter the house. The sisters hid under the bed, but Patrick pulled Susie out and was preparing to molest her when their parents arrive home. (Jennifer, her mother, turns out to be the antiques store clerk Jane saw). Jennifer hears Susie in distress, grabs a hammer, and runs upstairs to find Patrick on Susie. Jennifer confronts Patrick as Susie suffers an asthma attack. Patrick kills Jennifer with the hammer, then chases Jane, who runs into Liam at the top of the stairs. They crash down the stairs, killing Liam and causing Jane’s head injuries. Patrick finds Susie dead of her asthma attack, so he places the hammer in Liam's dead hand and leaves. Jane wakes up and crawls into the corner the police found her in, covered in Liam's blood.

Adult Jane sits with Liam, who explains that the family's spirits were trapped and could only lead her to the truth so she could set them free. Jane apologizes and Liam says that they love her. She snaps to reality when Alan comes in. When he tells her that he dropped Alice off at Patrick's, they rush there. They arrive just as Patrick is preparing to molest Alice, and he shoots at Alan. Alan then tries to talk Patrick down but Patrick attempts to shoot at him again just as Jane hits Patrick with a shovel from behind. Patrick wakes up as Jane drags him into Susie's room. As he begs her not to leave him there and insists he made mistakes, she tells him he can plead his case to the family and leaves the house after locking him in. The movie ends with a close-up shot of the photograph that Jane took of her childhood home as Patrick is desperately apologetically crying and screaming for his life.

Cast

Production

On May 11, 2015, Abbie Cornish and Dermot Mulroney joined the cast of the film.[2]

Release

The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18, 2016.[1] The film was released on DirecTV on February 3, 2017, before being released on VOD and in theaters on March 3, 2017, by Samuel Goldwyn Films.[3]

Critical reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 36%, based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 4.61/10.[4] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a score of 46 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[5]

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References
  1. Nick Schager (2016-04-19). "'Lavender' Review: Abbie Cornish's Haunted House Movie". Variety. Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  2. "Cannes: Abbie Cornish, Dermot Mulroney Join 'Lavender'". The Hollywood Reporter. 2015-05-11. Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  3. Galuppo, Mia (January 26, 2017). "Samuel Goldwyn, AMBI Partner for Psychological Thriller 'Lavender'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
  4. "Lavender (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  5. "Lavender Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
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