Ordinary People Movie Analysis

1.Brief Summary: Ordinary People is about the Jarrett family once a family of four –now of three- live a comfortable upper-mid-class lifestyle in suburban in Lake Forest, Illinois, during the 1970s. In good times, they can weather anything, but when a storm comes along, there are dangerous flaws that there are not aware of. Love, once a feeling, is now nothing more than an expectation or an obligation especially for the mother. After the death of Bucky, his older brother Conrad became deeply troubled and depressed, blaming himself for the boating accident. He tried to commit suicide by slashing his wrists and was hospitalized in a mental institution. After Conrad is released from the hospital while he is physically cured, he is by no means emotionally cured, and at the request of his father, he begins to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger to help him gain more control, help him come to terms with his brother's death and learn how to cope with his everyday stressors. The movie focuses on his family life, Conrad is becoming increasingly alienated from his mother, who he thinks wishes he would've died instead of his brother, because Bucky was the outgoing, handsome and perfect son. The mother She is beautiful and "perfect”, a complete perfectionist who wants everything to appear to be normal and thinks Conrad's suicide attempt was just to hurt her. She doesn’t know how to deal with Conrad. She doesn't know how to really show affection for Conrad after Buck dies. She has become cold and withdrawn while the father is paralyzed by sorrow and indecision about how to move on, and the remaining son is wracked by survivor’s guilt. The father tries way too hard to watch over Conrad because he blames himself for missing the warning signs before Conrad's attempted suicide. The film will tell the story of how Conrad attempts to deal with the guilt he feels after his brother’s death, and the way they deal with it as a family, the lack of communication or affective communication and