When Lesly accompanies her new fiancé to her in-laws to celebrate Thanksgiving 1981, he hasn’t told her much about his family, apart from the fact that they have their quirks. Mother turns out to be elegant but rather eccentric; she is of the opinion that conversation only leads to problems. The youngest son Anthony has no idea what he does all day. Marty’s twin sister however beats them all. She has just been released from a psychiatric clinic, but still thinks she is Jackie O.(nassis). The father has been missing since 22 November 1963, the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Then the power fails around dinner time, putting a stop to the affluent family’s slap-up dinner. They are condemned to drinking rum and coke by candlelight and before long increasingly black stories start emerging. Lesly gets to hear more about her in-laws than she wants.Like a great conductor facing a hysterical symphony, Waters keeps the dynamism of the disturbed family in check with just enough reticence. Geneviève Bujold plays the mother with the sadness of a queen who has lost her kind and her castle. Parker Posey deserves a special mention for playing her heart out as Jacky O., a role that might have been written for her.
