Written and directed by filmmaker Kent Jones and executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Diane is a film about a widowed older woman, who overextends herself trying to take care of her family and friends, while dealing with a drug-addicted son. Diane begs the question, “What happens when you don’t have an inner life?”
Diane (Mary Kay Place) spends her day speeding across town running errands for friends, visiting sick family members, volunteering at homeless shelters, and checking on her son, Brian (Jake Lacy). She is so involved in the life of those around her; she doesn’t have time to focus on herself. As all the pieces in her life start to shift away, Diane has to learn to stand alone and establish an identity separate from her past.
Mary Kay Place is phenomenal in her role as the titular character. She brings depth and subtlety that enhances every scene she’s in. We feel the power of her performance as Diane when she juggles feelings of guilt, loss, and shame for decisions in her past which come to light. At the center of her inner turmoil, is her son Brian whose addiction to drugs has reached a head. Lacy manages to balance his character’s selfishness and concern for his mother’s well-being. He walks the line of the steps of recovery and forges his character’s path to forgiveness and acceptance. A bright spot is Andrea Martin, who provides comic relief in an otherwise heavy film.
So much of Diane centers around death and dying, which Jones uses as a catalyst for Diane’s redemption. When she no longer has a family to focus on, Diane must learn to focus on herself instead. She begins journaling and writing poems, in an effort to articulate and express thoughts she had suppressed for much of her life. She begins to know herself in a way she had not before. “Once you start to have an inner life, you start to give yourself a break.” Mary Kay Place says at the premiere screening of the film at the Tribeca Film Festival. When Diane asks this of herself, is when the audience begins to know who she is.
In his first fiction feature film, Jones comprises a stellar cast whose performances ground the story in reality. It’s striking commentary on redemption and forgiveness is relatable on all levels. Grief and shame are processed at different stages in our lives, and sometimes it is in the quiet moments by ourselves, or within reoccurring dreams that we learn the who we are. “What constitutes redemption?” Jones says. The answer, I think, lies partly in this film.
Diane won the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature and Best Screenplay in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film at the Tribeca Film Festival Awards.