Acrimony is a 2018 American thriller produced and directed by Tyler Perry. It stars Taraji P. Henson, Lyriq Bent,alongside others. The movie begins with a court proceeding in which a nonchalant Melinda (played by Taraji) is at the receiving end of a restraining order, filed by her ex-husband Robert (played by Lyriq). The court also orders her to go for a mandatory therapy. It is in her therapy session that the whole movie unfolds, as a flashback.
The thing about Acrimony is that nobody is entirely wrong or right. The storyline and character development makes you address the themes,not out of context or by affiliation with a particular gender, but from a perspective which is very relatable and personal.
During and after watching the movie (for the thousandth time..lol), I realised a few things that I would like to share with you.
People can have genuine intentions for you; the execution, on the hand may not be so great. That was the case of Melinda’s sisters. They were genuinely looking out for their sister. I could feel the fear and determination in her eldest sister’s voice when she said, “that man is throwing out all kinds of red flags and now you wanna go and marry him?” I mean which sibling (or friend) would not be extra cautious about you; especially when you’re beautiful, have a juicy inheritance, and have some guy who cheated on you, contributing to you getting your ovaries ruptured in the process, around you? Their intentions were pure, however it is your actions people see, not your intentions. Their approach towards salvaging the situation did not go well. It made Melinda feel like they were against her “happiness”; thereby making her headstrong.
Dreams do not pay bills. Robert had a big dream; a rechargeable battery that was going to make them rich when the guys at Prescott & Howard called him. After a few failed job searches, due to a felony charge (as a result of a crime he committed in a gang at age 15), he stopped searching. For 18 years, he and his dream drained Melinda of all the money her mother had left her. Who does that? (Well, Robert does.) It is great to have a dream /dreams. However, it is bad to do nothing while waiting for that dream to come to life; because dreams (in the stage where it is all an idea/proposal) do not put food on one’s table. It is when you work hard to actualize the dream,that the dream produces results (in this case,money). In the process of making that dream work, do not be idle;do something to sustain yourself and your home. Robert failed to work towards actualizing his dream and serving his family. He pursued his dream selfishly,at the expense of his wife, who worked two jobs to sustain the home.
Marriage is not a problem solver.
In my opinion,Melinda had no business marrying Robert. They were both individuals with personal issues that needed to be sorted out. The movie, to me reiterated the point that marriage is not a magical wand that will immediately transform you into the perfect person for your partner. You have to work towards the change you seek before you enter a marriage.
After Melinda had caught Robert in bed with another woman, she should not have accepted him back. What she needed at that time was psychological help. Think of it, if she could ram her car into Robert’s abode,harming herself in the process in a relationship (which she could have easily closed her eyes and walked out of), it meant she was definitely going to do worst in a marriage (which required more commitment and compromise). She was feisty, had unresolved anger issues, had no sense of self, lived in a state of denial,and never took responsibility of her constant explosive reaction to issues.
Robert had his flaws as well. He was manipulative (he had a way of suggesting,not asking,because he knew that she loved him so much that she would do anything for him), entitled, selfish (being committed to his project at the expense of his wife) and he had “mommy issues” (he needed someone who would have his back no matter what; someone who would encourage, love and cherish him even at his lowest,but at that point ‘Aunty Mel’ had been drained of all emotions and energies).
Acrimony was an enjoyable one. I will give it a 6/10. It would have been interesting to hear Robert’s side of the story too. Just sayin’.
Let me know what you think about it in the comments section. If you have not seen it yet, please do and let me know your thoughts.
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Kafui Debss 