The Rest of Us uses an off-beat concept to create a story about fidelity, guilt, and grief. The four main characters are women in this Canadian movie currently streaming on Hulu and Prime Video.
The Rest of Us stars Heather Graham as Cami. Her college age daughter is Aster (Sophie Nélisse). Cami’s divorced and a successful author of children’s books. Her ex husband is now married to Rachel (Jodi Balfour), who has a young daughter named Talulah (Abigail Pniowsky).
The past and current husband of these two women dies. He was in a lot of financial trouble. Rachel’s house is foreclosed on. Her car is repossessed. She has no job. The life insurance is void from lack of payment.
So Cami invites Rachel to bring her daughter and live with her. As you do. The resulting situation is awkward and uncomfortable. The women were enemies before. The half-sisters barely know each other.
As this strange arrangement proceeds we see four different reactions to grieving, we learn some things about who is guilty and who is innocent in marriage breakups, and there are some interesting twists. The two half-sisters bond finally. The two wives go through a series of emotions that explain a lot as they are revealed.
Although Jodi Balfour is in her 30s, she was dressed and styled to look younger here. This emphasized the difference between her as an uneducated wife with no skills vs. Heather Graham as the successful older first wife. It also gave Cami some talking points to use when Aster declared she didn’t want to return to college.
If only every desperate single mom had a well-off first wife to rescue her from certain poverty. By the final third of the film, you begin to see why this story is the way it is.
The Rest of Us was directed by Aisling Chin-Yee. Aisling Chin-Yee has worked in numerous ways in Canadian television for years, but this is her first time directing a full length feature. Alanna Francis wrote the screenplay. The film was well-directed and well-acted and based on a unique idea.
Here’s the trailer.
Have you seen this Canadian gem? What did you think of it?