I never watch horror movies. My imagination doesn’t need any help devising ways that humans can be awful to each other. But there I was, sitting in the dark by myself, watching one of the most frightening movies I’ve seen in ages. I Care A Lot is billed as a dark satire, but my heart rate, my stomach churn, my squirminess all told me that wasn’t so. It is a horror flick, plain and simple.
I was rooting hard that Pike/Grayson would get payback in the nastiest way possible.
Rosamund Pike plays Marla Grayson, a steely scam artist whose con is to get herself appointed as a guardian to one elderly person after another so that she can take control of their finances, sell their homes, supervise their medical care. She works with a crooked doctor who will tell the court that someone is unable to take care of herself or himself so that Grayson can get her hooks in.
Pike just won a Golden Globe for the role, and I can see why. She is breathtakingly amoral and can efficiently bully anyone who gets in her way, even under the nose of a judge whose job it is to protect the elderly she’s abusing.
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I Care A Lot: Actually The World Could Care Less
Grayson is netting a nice living through her scam, until she picks on the wrong old person, played deliciously by Dianne Wiest. I was rooting hard that Pike/Grayson would get payback in the nastiest way possible, and I won’t reveal whether she does or not.
But it wasn’t just Grayson’s actions that I found horrifying. It felt like everyone, from the courts to the nursing home employees to jewelry appraisers, was in on the con. They seemed to know exactly what was going on and didn’t give a fig. Old people, even those who actually could take care of themselves, were sedated in nursing homes, without having access to phones or loved ones. Grayson would cagily cast the children as not wanting to spend the money for a good nursing home because they had their eyes on their inheritance.
I simply could not bear to watch this, putting myself in the place of these elders, who had truly lost all control of their lives and their finances to a devious grifter.
The Real Story
By the end of the movie I was truly shaken and immediately went online to research whether this could really happen. I was expecting (hoping) that this the movie was a classic case of Hollywood exaggeration. But what I read made me more distraught.
“Case after case has come to light of elderly people being ripped off in what critics have called a `con game’ that has led to `a silent epidemic of elder abuse,'” read a report in the Huffington Post. One expert on elder abuse said, “In most states around the country, it is easier to qualify as a guardian than it is to become a hairdresser.”
The elderly are victimized under the deception of protection.
The New Yorker documented a court guardian who sounds like the real-life model for Marla Grayson. She removed a couple from their home on the spur of the moment, without even their daughter knowing what happened to them.
In the United States, the New Yorker reported, a million and a half adults are under the care of guardians, either family members or professionals, who control some $273 billion in assets.
To combat this nightmarish scenario, an organization called the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse (NASGA) has formed. “Wards in these circumstances, are victimized under the deception of protection,” the NASGA’s website states. “Strangers are often given total and absolute control of life, liberty, and property of their wards, including being left defenseless and subject to neglect, abuse and/or exploitation by the very people chosen to protect them; they become invisible and voiceless.”
Getting Away With It
I couldn’t sleep the night after watching the movie and learning that the facts were just as bad. I kept imaging myself spending the end of my life trapped in a nursing home, surrounded by people whose eyes were just as dull as mine from the drugs handed out.
If you watch a movie like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Nightmare on Elm Street, the consolation to all that horrific imagery is that it’s not real. A Freddy Krueger is not on the loose in your town. But there are real Marla Graysons on the prowl, getting away with their crimes. The true horror is if we do nothing about it.
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Jeanine Tweedie says
Sadly, the serious prevalence of elder abuse is used as a premise for this “thriller” movie. The plot in no way informs the audience of real-life situations. There are many avenues and resources that can be used in occurrences of elder abuse and this was not realistic. The severity of the problem of elder abuse is exacerbated right now during the pandemic with elders being cared for in isolation with few visitors in care facilities or with family. I see this movie as instilling fear rather than using the premise to help. I abhor using the pain and suffering of over 10 million elders of 60 years old and older who are elder abuse victims per year in the United States as a commercial venture through “entertainment”. This film is misleading about how elder abuse occurs which reduces the ability to prevent it and assist those who need it most.
Jeannie Ralston says
Thank you for weighing in. Your point about elder abuse possibly getting worse during the isolation of the pandemic is chilling. However, I know it got my attention, and made me recommit to keeping my mother safe from such sharks.
Jeanine Tweedie says
Being an attentive family member is a very loving and beneficial act. There are so many factors involved in elder abuse. This article addresses the current situation. And thank you for your many articles!
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/elder-abuse-and-ageism-during-covid-19
Emily Vickers says
I have a different take on the movie… I have very high standards on the suspension of disbelief in films… So even though I thought the acting was great and many of the issues that were raised were salient, it was perfectly stylish and attractive… But I couldn’t get over the lapses in logic that flawed the otherwise believable screen play. I know, I know, it’s all about creating the fiction, but really…. Marla’s miraculous escape from the submerged car… Do you really think the Russian mob would be so careless as NOT to insure that their elaborate machinations to make the killing look “organic” were actually successful? And when Marla does manage to get back home from the boondocks (via a CAB??) and finds her lover in a pool of blood, whaaaaaa??? If you watched the scene of the two goons stomping her you would NEVER believe they too had not checked her pulse before leaving her for dead. And surely she would have more visible injuries… but her beautiful face was unharmed, and only a tiny little band-aid to show for what surely was massive head trauma. I could go on, but I’ve beaten a dead horse already. Thanks for hearing me out.
Jeannie Ralston says
I hear you Emily. I did feel that those two survivals were stretched too far. I could buy one, but not both. I was so hoping that they would have worked because I hated those 2 so much.
Jane says
Oooohhhh, I watched this movie and I was so angry at the injustice. This was a movie and not a documentary, so some parts were a bit unbelievable. However, having helped care for a number of family members, I can say that older people are often treated as if they were children. It can be a really fine line sometimes especially when dementia is present, to keep a person safe yet allow them as much freedom as they can manage. It is key to have documents naming the people who are trusted to advocate for you as well as making that person’s involvement known to the professionals who work with an elderly loved one. Another key thing is to have those difficult conversations. If a parent is not safe living on their own, gradually work with them to find appropriate living arrangements; don’t swoop in and start demanding. Be involved regularly with your loved one, so horrible people can’t step in because of vulnerability in your loved one. And if you are the one who is older and in need of help, don’t be a stubborn mule and resist changes that are made with your safety in mind.