How About You ... 2008

Ellie Harris travels to her sister Kate’s residential home, Woodlane, in search of a job. She quickly befriends a resident named Alice and begins spending more time with her, which makes it harder for her to keep up with her duties. Kate grows frustrated as Ellie neglects parts of her responsibilities, and the two clash over Ellie’s growing closeness to the residents. After several talks with Alice, Ellie decides to try to ease her pain by taking her down to the river and giving her marijuana, a choice she makes against the nurse’s orders. The very next day, Ellie learns that Alice has died, casting a shadow over the holiday season and testing Ellie’s resolve.

Kate receives news that their mother has had a stroke and decides to be with her, leaving Ellie to stay behind with the four residents who remain at Woodlane over Christmas. Ellie is asked to keep the group company because she and their mother do not get along, and the four residents—Georgia Platts, a former actress and singer; Heather and Hazel Nightingale, sisters who moved in after years of caring for their mother; and Donald Vanston, a recovering alcoholic who loves playing piano and used to be a judge—are a lively, sometimes meddlesome bunch. They embody a crowd that feels entitled to their routines because they pay to live there, often challenging Ellie’s authority and testing the boundaries of decency and care.

As the days unfold, Ellie learns more about each resident’s past and personality. Donald requests his breakfast in his room at 6:00 a.m. instead of the dining room at 8:00, and when his order is wrong, Ellie insists that he can have breakfast in the dining room like everyone else. He shares that the music he plays at night is his late wife’s favorite song, and he opens up about regretting not sobering up before she died, revealing a tender, vulnerable side beneath his prickly exterior.

The quiet rhythms of life at Woodlane are complicated by secrecy and longing. Heather demands that Ellie hand over any letters addressed to her sister to spare Hazel distress, but Kate never told Ellie about this arrangement. A letter arrives for Hazel, and when Ellie delivers it to Hazel, she discovers sketches and paintings that reveal Hazel’s true artistic talent. Hazel’s sister, Heather, is revealed to have been writing under Hazel’s name to shield Hazel from a painful past, including Hazel’s son Simon, whom she was forced to give up for adoption and who has been trying to find her. When Heather confesses her deception, Hazel forgives her, and the two resolve to meet Simon together in the new year, strengthening their bond.

Georgia keeps Ellie busy with martini requests and frequent trips to the local pub to entertain patrons. She confides that after her husband’s death she tried to return to the theatre, but the world had changed, and she ended up at Woodlane because she hates being alone. She candidly admits that “abusing everyone is part of the fun,” a line that underscores her performative bravado and the unsteady line between charm and manipulation.

A festive spirit takes root as Ellie arranges a Christmas dinner for the residents. They venture out to buy decorations and food, with Hazel expressing her fear of going outside the property, and Georgia proudly displaying Hazel’s paintings. Back at Woodlane, Heather demonstrates her pool skills, and the group returns to the home singing carols. The dinner brings them closer, and a sense of family begins to replace the earlier friction.

The next day, Mr. Evans from the Department of Health arrives, shocked to learn that Kate left the residents alone. The residents collectively insist that they want to stay and that they are a family. Donald even asks to stay for dinner, and Mr. Evans leaves, only to return later, admitting that he was upset because his wife left him and deciding to stay for the meal.

When Kate returns, she finds that the household has shifted into a new routine: Heather tends a garden, Hazel paints outside, and Donald and Georgia hand out tea to a group of boys raking the lawn. Ellie reveals that she intends to leave Woodlane to spend time with their mother, choosing to step back from the day-to-day responsibilities for a while. In the closing moments, Donald and Georgia are seen dancing outside, singing “How About You?”—a hopeful, lingering note that the residents have found a way to care for one another amid their eccentricities and shared history.