Family – August: Osage County; Family And Psychological Damage

Our families are the starting point that in many cases affects us even after childhood. In this sense, the film  Family – August: Osage County  depicts a family that is far from idyllic.

This family looks perfect on the outside, but only those inside know what’s really going on. They feel trapped between their love and a gloomy reality full of frustration, jealousy, and competition  instead of love and protection.

Family  –  August: Abstract from Osage County

When the patriarch of the family commits suicide, his wife invites his three daughters to return home and attend the funeral. For every daughter, this return evokes conflicts and resentment about the past.

Their father had been a refugee for several years, and their mother was drug addicted. Their marriage had been very devastating. The father only met his wife’s demands and complaints. The mother believed that her husband did not treat her fairly. He punished this because the man had betrayed him many years earlier. The end result of this infidelity was the birth of a child, which is the secret of the family.

Both parents come from poor conditions and suffer from ill-treatment by their own parents. They are rough people who are used to a life full of difficulties. They were both proud of what they had achieved with their hard work.

They reflected their own wishes on their daughters, but none of them seem to have met those expectations. The matriarch feels deep contempt for his three daughters and always questions their life choices.

Passive-aggressive mother

Family  –  August: The matriarch of Osage County is narcissistic. He has a passive-aggressive personality. She only focuses on her daughter’s mistakes. In addition, he accuses them of never having the opportunity to do the things they want. The matriarch is manipulative and dramatic when his tricks don’t work the way he wants.

The matriarch feels that he has to compete with everyone. He uses all the information he gets from his daughters as weapons against them. He always says positive comments between negative ones.

A matriarch is a perverted woman who feels under attack because her daughters have their own lives. He does everything he can to get them back home and reminds them of “their duty to their mother”. He always reminds them that he has nothing and makes them feel guilty for having too much.

The eldest daughter

The eldest daughter has always been a mediator during family crises, both with her younger sisters and with her own parents. She is dominant and this caused a lot of problems with her own husband who divorced her. However, the whole family does not know that he is divorced.

Despite the love her husband and daughter feel for her, they find that she can never relax dissatisfied. He feels an internal struggle and does not want to repeat the mistakes of his parents.

Middle sister

The middle sister in this movie is a parent caregiver. She was never married and didn’t do much else in her life except take care of her parents. This has made him feel a lot of bitterness towards his parents and sisters. He has a very strange relationship with his cousin that no one knows about.

The matriarch is grateful to be the caretaker. However, he is constantly attacking this. In addition, the mother accuses him of not starting his own family because of his unkind appearance. He even makes fun of this. This daughter has serious problems related to others and she has developed an evasive personality.

The youngest daughter

Family – August: In Osage County , the youngest daughter seems to be completely lost. She is a very childish and fragile woman who just wants to please everyone and be accepted. She has spent her entire adult life jumping from one relationship to another, taking risks with men who don’t treat her well.

The youngest daughter is a very emotionally dependent person. She goes a long way to showing her mother how “happy” she is and how perfect and idyllic her current relationship is. However, other family members see her partner as “this year’s boyfriend”. Based on the information given in the film, it’s hard to say, but he could be emotionally limited.

Identification of patterns

The three daughters have grown up in an authoritarian environment. Their parents never showed any affection for them. Each of them has also exercised sharp control over their lives. They all have an unhealthy attachment relationship, even though each of them treats it differently.

When family crises occur, they resort to denial. This way, it’s easy to maintain a “family play” on site. Each of them has developed different defense mechanisms to survive. In short, the family environment seems “normal” to outsiders, but it is actually really disturbed.

While  Family –  August: Osage County  is just a movie, it shows how our families can cause a lot of psychological damage.

Some time ago, the Castellón Provincial Clinic in Spain analyzed the film in one of its meta-training seminars. They study all problems from a therapeutic perspective. Many people can identify with these family roles.  The mental well-being of those who have suffered in such an environment should be examined in more depth, as should those around them in adulthood.