The Front Room--My take on the movie with spoilers!

 

Plot: When Belinda and Norman invite Norman's stepmother Solange to stay with them, they are not prepared for what the old woman brings with her.

Quick Movie Review

THE FRONT ROOM can barely be called Horror.

If a drama on a turbulent relationship between mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws is called horror, then okay, The Front Room is horror.

The movie suffers from prolonged and repetitive sequences and barely commendable acting from Brandy, who shows her spark only once or twice throughout the movie. Other times, she seems annoyed that she chose this script.

Actors Andrew Burnap and Kathryn Hunter do try to put up an earnest effort, but the story isn't original, nor does it set up a tense atmosphere to actually catch your attention.

THE FRONT ROOM Movie Plot

The movie begins by showing us a statue of a fertility goddess. We then see Belinda teaching an anthropology class. Her students look painfully bored as Belinda asks them questions.

Later, Belinda is told she is such a hard worker and an adjunct professor. Belinda is clearly not pleased at being called an adjunct.

Afterwards, she had an appointment with her gynaecologist and is nervous about going in. She's worried that the doctor will not find a heartbeat again.

This implies that Belinda had a kid before but lost it. She hears the heartbeat and is more than relieved.

Norman and Belinda are an interracial couple, and this part is important because of what happens later on.

Norman finds out his father is dying and is upset. Belinda is either on maternity leave or has been let go. That part isn't shown properly.

All we get to see is that Belinda went to buy a can of paint, but her credit card was declined.

When she returns home, she finds a very upset Norman. Apparently, his father passed away.

Norman had a stepmother who was overly religious and who punished him when he was a kid because he wasn't too religious.

Belinda and Norman go to the funeral, where Pastor Lewis introduces her to Solange.

Norman's stepmother practically puts up a show when she gets up using canes. She has a large veil over her that she requires help with. Belinda moves forward to assist her, and that is how she meets Solange.

Pastor Lewis explains how Norman's father had only one wish, and that was for his son to take care of Solange. Norman is hesitant, but when Solange tells him that she will give him all her money in exchange of spending her last days in his house, it is Belinda who convinces Norman, especially after seeing the sum Solange is ready to give them.

All throughout, Norman keeps telling Belinda that he wants nothing to do with the woman responsible for his childhood trauma, but Belinda thinks the harmless-looking old woman deserves a chance.

So, it is kind of Belinda's fault for what happens next.

Solange seems to know that Belinda is carrying a girl, and that is because she claims that the Lord speaks through her.

Belinda just thinks Solange is a nut.

When Solange arrives at their home, she immediately demands that she get the front room since she can not climb stairs in her condition. The front room was supposed to be a nursery. The reason this room is a nursery is because Belinda didn't want to use the nursery she had made upstairs for her first baby, who didn't survive.

Norman isn't too happy about this, but again, Belinda tells him to let it go.

At dinner, Solange doesn't like the food and declares that it is too salty. Norman defends his wife, but Solange doesn't think there's anything wrong with telling the truth. Belinda plays mediator and asks Norman if the food is salty. He says it is a little bit and looks ashamed. Belinda accepts her mistake graciously.

Solange then asks Belinda what she intends to name the baby. Belinda thinks the name Fern will be perfect for her daughter. Solange makes fun of it and asks whether what is growing inside her is a plant or a baby. She also states that people like her usually have interesting names.

Norman takes offence at the racial remark, but Solange brushes it off. She starts to speak in tongues and asks Belinda what her mother and father names were. She eventually says that Laurie, based on Belinda's father's name Lawrence, will be an ideal name. Belinda says she will think about it.

The next day, Norman is off to work, and a pregnant Belinda finds out that Solange is incontinent. She helps her and then at the dinner table, informs Norman about this, which angers and embarrasses Solange. Solange walks out of the table and goes to her room.

Now that it is out in the open, Solange poops and pees everywhere. Norman helps, but since he is the only one at the job, as he announces to Belinda, he has to go. So, a heavily pregnant Belinda has to take care of Solange.

At this point, Solange is being shown as a villain just because she is elderly and incontinent. Just because she requires help doesn't mean she should he ridiculed for it.

The movie delivers a message that you should not be taking care of the elderly and if they are incontinent, then they must be humiliated for it.

So far, Solange is coming up as really sympathetic, but obviously, she's not going to remain this way.

Belinda cribs and complains about taking care of Solange. Norman says they can't afford help. They could have asked Solange to shell out some money so that they could keep a caretaker, but they don't.

Belinda does try to make friends with Solange, but she tests her patience with religion. Their views are different, but at one point, Solange does state that they are both learning from each other.

One night, as Solange is praying, Belinda suddenly goes into labour. Her baby is born, and she names it Laurie, finding that she likes the name.

She returns home and is in discomfort because of her stitches. Norman hasn't accompanied her for some reason. Belinda notices that her furniture has changed and that there are elderly people present.

Solange takes her grandchild while the other people start speaking in tongues while caressing her belly.

Belinda gets upset and asks them all to leave. Norman finally comes, and she finds out that he is the one who approved the change in furniture.

Belinda is too upset when Solange soils herself. Later, when Belinda checks her bandages, she finds that her stitches have healed.

So whatever the group is up to, they are up to some good?

Belinda eventually gets into another argument with Solange. There's also an argument regarding  Solange keeping her husband's ashes in an urn in their living room and Solange's certificate of Daughters of the Confederacy. All of this makes Solange seem racist, but she cries about the accusation.

Solange then plays a mean trick on Belinda. She knocks herself on the table, and when Norman comes to check up on her, he claims that Belinda hit her.

The only reason Norman believes her is that Laurie has not been latching onto Belinda, which has gotten her frustrated.

Solange returns all bandaged up, and Norman takes good care of her.

The dinner table becomes a site for a battle between the in-laws, and you almost feel sorry for Norman as he returns from work every night to get caught between his wife and stepmother.

Laurie, on the other hand, cries all the time and only stops when the fish cross necklace is hung over her.

Belinda gets frustrated that her husband and daughter are becoming distant from her and closer to Solange.

This leads her to have weird dreams of Norman feeding from Solange.

THE FRONT ROOM Ending Explained

There's more vomit and poop scenes.

Pastor Lewis commends Belinda for taking care of Solange and then lets on that Solange paid off the entire mortgage of the house. Belinda considers if they still need to keep Solange on.

After yet another argument where Belinda does knock out Solange, Norman comes to her aid, but Belinda stops him.

Norman goes to check on Laurie. Solange asks for help, and Belinda tells her that her name is not Belinder but Belinda.

Solange is eventually settled in her room, but Norman comes downstairs to confront Belinda about teeth marks on their baby.

Belinda is shocked that her husband would accuse of mistreating their daughter. She tells him that those her not her teeth marks but Solange's since there is a missing tooth in the imprint. Solange broke her own tooth when she knocked herself and blamed Belinda for it.

Norman and Belinda confront Solange, who screams and cries. They leave her alone.

Solange keeps crying the whole night, questioning God, why she can not die?

You almost feel sorry for her if you look at this movie from her side.

The next morning, Belinda smells something disgusting and opens the door to find that Solange died in her sleep last night.

Solange is cremated. Belinda takes down all of her religious images and statues. She even tears the certificate.

At night, she considers simply running over the chair that Solange used to sit in and destroy all of her things, but then doesn't.

Time passes, and Belinda and Norman have sold the house and moved to a new house.

Belinda is pregnant with twins this time. She's off to a job interview, which is willing to give her maternity leave right away. Lucky her.

At the interview, she is asked how she managed to juggle a mother-in-law and kid while being pregnant.

Belinda grins, kind of like in PEARL.

A flashback reveals that she smothered Solange in her sleep when she was screaming about dying.

The movie ends.

My Take On The Movie 

As it turns out, Belinda was the real villain all along who was cruel to an elderly woman.

You can see it that way or see it as a woman who took extreme steps to save her family from a woman who was driving them all crazy and creating a rift.

The Front Room doesn't make an effort to make you like a character, and perhaps that was the intention.

You grow frustrated with each of these characters and find yourself wondering why a fight between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is promoted as a horror movie.

Scare Scale: 2/5