The Help (2011)

Tate Taylor

Produced:

Chris Columbus
Michael Barnathan
Brunson Green

Tate Taylor

Based on The Help: 

Kathryn Stockett

Cast:

Jessica Chastain
Viola Davis
Bryce Dallas Howard
Allison Janney
Octavia Spencer
Emma Stone

Movie Overview:

In 1963 Jackson, Mississippi, Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) is a Black maid spending her life raising white children after the death of her only son from an industrial accident. She works for the Leefolt family, principally taking care of the children of Elizabeth Leefolt, a young woman gripped with postpartum depression who refuses to acknowledge her daughter except when disciplining her. Aibileen's best friend is Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer), an outspoken Black maid who has long worked for Hilly Holbrook's (Bryce Dallas Howard) mother, Mrs. Walters (Sissy Spacek), to the point that they are very comfortable with each other. Minny's stormy temper is tolerated due to respect for her great cooking skills. Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone) is an independent thinking young white woman returning to the family plantation after graduating from the University of Mississippi[3] to find that her beloved childhood maid, Constantine (Cicely Tyson), has quit while she was away. She is perplexed as she believes Constantine would not have left without writing her, and she eventually learns that her mother, Charlotte (Allison Janney), fired Constantine earlier in the year.

While Skeeter's social group attended college to find husbands, Skeeter herself earned a double-major and remains single, much to Charlotte's chagrin, and aspires to have a successful writing career. She begins making inroads towards this goal when she lands a job with the local paper as a "homemaker hints" columnist, asking Elizabeth if Aibileen could help her in answering the letters; after gaining permission from Elizabeth (who in turn "gained permission" from Hilly) and approaching Aibileen herself, the maid agrees. Upon spending time with Aibileen one-on-one, Skeeter becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the attitude of her white socialite female friends towards their "help", especially after learning of Hilly's "Home Help Sanitation Initiative", a plan to legislate mandatory separate toilets for Black domestic help because "they (Black people) carry different diseases than we (white people) do".

Inspired by her relationship with Constantine, Skeeter forms an idea of writing about the relationships between whites and their Black help, especially since the children raised by Black maids tend to take on the prejudiced attitudes of their parents when they become adults. The maids are reluctant to cooperate, afraid of retribution from their employers, but Aibileen eventually agrees. Minny also cooperates after Hilly fires her for using the guest bath as instructed by Mrs. Walters instead of going out to use the help's outdoor toilet in a driving tornado.

Hilly makes finding work difficult for Minny by falsely stating that she had stolen from her. As a result, Minny's abusive husband forces their daughter to leave school to work as a maid. Minny eventually finds work with working-class outcast Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain), who is married to wealthy socialite Johnny Foote (Mike Vogel), the ex-boyfriend Hilly never truly got over. Celia informs Minny that she's pregnant. Because of her sweet disposition, ignorance to the unspoken social caste and exuberant personality, Celia is clueless about how to "properly" treat Minny as an employee in her home; she often joins Minny in the kitchen for cooking lessons and they share the meals they make together while providing each other with advice on how to deal with the bullies each woman faces in her life.

At the same time, Skeeter has begun to withdraw from this same circle of her own volition despite meeting Stuart Woodworth (Chris Lowell), the son of the local state senator, through Hilly. Skeeter and Stuart's budding relationship delights Charlotte immensely. The relationship between Celia and Minny deepens further after Celia miscarries and she informs Minny that she and Johnny had married because she got pregnant, but lost the baby a month later; she has also miscarried two other babies. During a charity event at which the socialites further mock her, Celia consumes only cocktails and has an unfortunate confrontation with Hilly which further ostracizes her from them.

Skeeter submits the draft book to Harper & Row. Her editor, Elaine Stein (Mary Steenburgen), advises her that more maids' stories need to be included, and that it has to happen quickly as the holidays are approaching and the newly developing Civil Rights Movement may be short-lived. A culmination of the Medgar Evers assassination, and Hilly having Minny's replacement brutally arrested for stealing a worthless ring, convinces the maids realize Skeeter's book could give them an opportunity to make known what they experience in life. Eventually, more maids than Skeeter could have ever hoped would help agree to tell their stories.

Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny realize late in their writing of the book is that some stories are very connected with particular maids and families, and begin to worry that they will be exposed. Their worries are heightened following the assassination of President Kennedy. Thus, Minny, as a form of "insurance", reveals her "Terrible Awful" story to ensure that the employers will not retaliate lest they confirm family secrets. In a fit of pique over Hilly firing her and damaging her reputation, Minny baked her renowned chocolate pie especially for Hilly by adding her own excrement to it, making it a point to keep Mrs. Walters away from it. Hilly ate two slices of the pie before Minny told her what she had put in it, causing Mrs. Walters to break out in a laughing fit, for which Hilly subsequently locked her away in a convalescent home. Minny predicts that putting the Terrible Awful into the book will keep the other maids safe from retribution, as Hilly would rather die than let it be known she was the subject of the Terrible Awful, and she will wield her social influence to convince anyone who will listen that the story did not take place in Jackson.

Skeeter, having written the Terrible Awful in the draft, decides to add one last story: that of Constantine. She confronts her mother for the truth. Charlotte reveals that during a lunch with the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Constantine's daughter Rachel arrived and disobeyed Charlotte's order to enter through the kitchen, greatly embarrassing her in the process. In order to save face, Charlotte fired Constantine and ordered her and Rachel to leave immediately. Some time later, Rachel took Constantine to Chicago. Charlotte had every intention of bringing Constantine back, but by the time Skeeter's brother came to take her back to Jackson, she had died.

The book, published anonymously to protect Skeeter and her contributors' identities, is a success, and the royalties are shared with the maids. Stuart becomes aware of the book's contents and breaks up with Skeeter, feeling betrayed. Minny confesses about the Terrible Awful to Celia, who finally sees Hilly for the manipulative bully she is. Thinking that all is safe with the origins of the book, Hilly becomes enraged when a contribution from Celia to one of Hilly's charitable works is made out to "Two Slice Hilly." Drunk, humiliated and spoiling for a fight, she drives to the Phelan plantation to confront Skeeter. When Hilly moves to storm into the house and tattle on Skeeter's "hippie" ways to Charlotte, Charlotte appears on the porch, commenting on her haggard appearance and observing she must have been eating "too much pie"--implying she knows exactly who the Terrible Awful was written about. Before Hilly can get in another word, Charlotte orders her off the property.

After Hilly's departure, Charlotte and Skeeter are able to reconcile, with Charlotte voicing her strong-spirited and independent daughter really is quite extraordinary and should be admired, especially when she takes a phone call intended for Skeeter from Elaine about being offered a publishing job at Harper & Row. Charlotte offers to help Skeeter prepare for this life-changing move from Jackson to Manhattan.

Celia thinks that she has adequately deceived her husband about bringing in Minny to help her manage the housekeeping; however, when Johnny comes up the drive while Minny is walking to the house with groceries, Minny thinks he will be furious with her, and she runs terrified toward the house. He is able to catch up with her on foot and reveals that not only has he known Minny has been working there the whole time, but that he also learned of Celia's multiple miscarriages. Jimmy also noticed that after Minny arrived, Celia's health began to improve, a grace for which he is profoundly grateful. Johnny helps Minny take her bags to the house, where she is surprised by a table full of food Celia has prepared entirely herself as a result of Minny's cooking lessons. Both Johnny and Celia inform Minny she has a job with them for as long as she wants. This kindness gives Minny the courage to leave her abusive husband, and she takes her children to live with the Footes.

In conclusion, Hilly is back to her old ways: knowing she cannot have Aibileen imprisoned for her writings without exposing herself, she vindictively intends instead to frame her for the theft of some loaned silver cutlery. Aibileen attempts to hold her ground timidly at first while Elizabeth attempts to let the issue pass. Hilly presses the issue to the point where she tells Aibileen that she is fired. Aibileen has had enough of Hilly's hideous selfishness and blindly arrogant attempts to control everyone around her, and condemns her as a godless, vindictive woman, never at peace. Defeated and humiliated, Hilly breaks down in tears and leaves. A departing Aibileen reassures Elizabeth's distraught daughter Mae Mobley with the creed that she has said to all her charges ("You is kind, you is smart, you is important"), then, compelled by Elizabeth, leaves for a new life, reflecting on her wishes of becoming a writer.