The Last Word - Mark Pellington (2017)

Harriet (Shirley McClain) is a woman who just hit her eighties and lashes out at anybody she comes into contact with. I would go so far as to say that Harriet is a tool. She starts to think back on her life and how she has alienated business partners, ex-husbands, would-be friends and her daughter.

Because of this hatred, Harriet realizes she will not have an impressive obituary when she dies. Now her primary objective is to make sure people remember her well, which is no small task considering how she has alienated so many people.

So she finds an obituary writer, Anne (Amanda Seyfried) to write her obit now, before she dies, so she has a chance to review and edit it until it suits her.


Anne's boss tells her that she needs to comply so Harriet will leave part of her fortune to the newspaper when she dies. So, to save everybody's job, she dives right into her task, even though she clearly does not like Harriet. Harriet exhibits the same abrasive personality when she meets Anne, who loathes her from the start.

Anne starts talking to the significant people in Harriet's life. Not only her estranged daughter and her ex-husband but her hairdresser, her priest, and her gynecologist etc...

As she goes from person to person, she finds that nobody has a single nice thing to say about Harriet. Not even her priest.

As expected, Harriet hates the first draft. It is a trifle and it is slim. She had cut herself off from everybody she has ever cared about.

She decides, with Anne's help, to do something worthy of an obituary full of praise.

First, she wants to mentor an 'at-risk' child. She says she wants to find her (very own hooligan.) She bonds with a little girl, Brenda, taking the kid under her wind. Brenda follows her around and Harriet calls her her 'intern.'

So now, the woeful duo is now three. Everybody brings something to the table.
This whole trek that Harriet has let Anne and Brenda tag along with is about nostalgia. She is going to take the risks that she did not take earlier in her life. Harriet decides to be something she has always wanted to be: a 'Disc-jockey.'

As we follow the past, and now present, achievements in life, we see mortality from the other side of the coin. Like Harriet, years ago made her decisions and took her risks, we also get to look through a window and catch a peek into Anne's ambitions. She does not want to write obituaries for the rest of her whole life. She has a voice and desperately needs to speak.

To put it bluntly, she wants to be a writer. God help her.

But she refuses to let anybody read her work. She will not take that risk. As Harriet points out, until Anne learns to take the risk of people not liking her work, her voice will be nothing but 'ambition neutered by self.'

As for Harriet, the last risk she needs to take in her own life is to try and reconnect with her estranged daughter. It is an awkward lunch.

"Word" contrasts both Harriet's regrets and Anne's ambition and ties them tight with a bow.

These experiences embolden Harriet, Anne and Brenda.

I can understand why people will see this film as a typical 'end of life' melodrama, but is much more than that.'


What follows is a warm picture of three women at different stages in their lives.

Shirley McClain gives an abrasive and subtle performance that I am sure will be remembered around award season.

If you have a moderately high tolerance for cheese, and do not mind a trite and pat ending, you will enjoy "The Last Word."