Taglines: Never lose hope.
Debra (Sienna Miller), a 30 or 40-something single mother (and amazingly, grandmother) living in a small, chaotic home in a PA town. We meet her as she puts on a body conscious dress and calls out “Bridget” repeatedly. That’s her teenage daughter (Sky Ferreira) she had birthed at 16 years of age, who grew up to do the same thing as her mom did: have a child way too young. Deb calls out Bridget’s name in such desperation that we quickly get a sense of her over-reliance on her offspring. For better or worse though, the duo live in harmony, with Deb helping out with infant Jesse when she isn’t going out to bad dates with an inadequate (and married) prospect.
Her helpful, loving yet immensely disapproving sister Katherine (Christina Hendricks of “Mad Men”) lives just across the street, leading a contrastingly tidy life with two kids and her supportive husband Terry (Will Sasso). This familial bond, shaped both by emotional and physical closeness, is portrayed with a rare sense of realness—sisters both love and assertively confront each other, while the ever reliable Terry truly contends for some kind of a “year’s best brother-in-law in cinema” award. There is also the siblings’ mother in the picture, capably played by Amy Madigan in a relatively inconsequential part.
And that’s just the setting until Bridget disappears one day with no trace. Even the sole suspect in Deb’s eyes (Jesse’s biological father Tyler, played by Alex Neustaedter) ends up being a dead-end target—the poor kid has nothing to do with the vanishing. Meanwhile, Deb’s affair comes to a decisive end, after a frenzied (and nearly tragic) night when she shows up at her married boyfriend’s doorstep like a desperate bunny boiler. Then before we know it, we cut to six years ahead.
Bridget is still missing; Deb is taking business classes and raising young Jesse (Aidan McGraw) through a hectic schedule. Bossing them around is the abusive Ray (Pay Healy), who pays for all the expenses, but not without some shouting and physical violence on the side. (You guessed it: Terry and Katherine come to the rescue.) With her nose out of that mess later, Deb continues growing in life, scoring a good job as well as a decent boyfriend named Chris (Aaron Paul of “Breaking Bad”), who later on marries Deb and becomes a father figure for Jesse (played by Aidan Fiske at later ages). But troubles await that relationship, too.
American Woman is a 2018 English-language drama film directed by Jake Scott, with the screenplay by Brad Ingelsby, and starring Sienna Miller, Aaron Paul and Christina Hendricks. Set over a period of eleven years, its plot follows a single mother who is faced with raising her grandson after her daughter goes missing under mysterious circumstances. It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2018. It was given a limited release on June 14, 2019, by Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment, and has received generally favorable critical reviews.
American Woman (2019)
Directed by: Jake Scott
Starring: Sienna Miller, Christina Hendricks, Aaron Paul, Will Sasso, Amy Madigan, Pat Healy, Alex Neustaedter, Maggie Budzyna, Aidan McGraw, Sky Ferreira, Rebecca Gibel, Gillian Mariner Gordon
Screenplay by: Brad Ingelsby
Production Design by: Happy Massee
Cinematography by: John Mathieson
Film Editing by: Joi McMillon
Costume Design by: Alex Bovaird
Set Decoration by: Danica Chipman
Art Direction by: Michael C. Stone
Music by: Adam Wiltizie
MPAA Rating: R for language, sexual content and brief drug use.
Distributed by: Roadside Attractions, Vertical Entertainment
Release Date: June 14, 2019
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