Family Pictures (2019 Lifetime)

Family Pictures (2019 Lifetime)

Cast: Elisabeth Röhm, Justina Machado, Matt Passmore

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Synopsis (via Lifetime)

In “Family Pictures,” Sylvie and Maggie are two strangers living on opposite coasts, leading very similar lives with husbands that travel for work too much and daughters about to leave the nest. But when their daughters befriend each other on a college tour, they soon discover a shocking secret that threatens to tear both families apart.

Thoughts

Sylvie (Justina Machado) is baking in her modest house, having some sexy time with her husband, Mark. Meanwhile, Margaret/Maggie (Elizabeth Rohm) is playing golf. She is super bitchy on the golf course, she also has a mansion. Both of these women have kids. Eve is Sylvie’s daughter and wants to move to NYC for college, and Grace is Maggie’s daughter, who lives in Connecticut and commutes to college. Oh yeah, these women have the same husband… THE SAME HUSBAND!

Mark is in over his head, with two families and all, and is working to move money around to support this WEIRD lifestyle choice. (Like who would choose to have two families and why would he think he could get away with this?) He, of course, doesn’t when Grace brings Eve home from a party, and he has to high tail it out of the mansion home for a “work trip,” but it is really to avoid seeing his daughter. This doesn’t prevent Eve from recognizing him in a family photo on the wall. She, rightfully, freaks out and shows Grace a picture of her and her dad on her phone.

Maggie is more concerned about keeping up appearances at her fancy country club luncheon than listening to Grace. (Who insists that her father is living a double life.) She does seem concerned when her credit card is declined, and a repo man comes and takes her family car. 

The repo man also visits Sylvie and takes their car too. He keeps calling her Maggie, and Sylvie is like, “Ummmm, my name is Sylvie!” When Eve comes home and upset, Sylvie thinks it is because of her eating disorder. (She has bulimia.) Sylvie isn’t handling the stress well and almost relapses on her sobriety. 

Both women call their husband, who is MIA. Little do they know they are calling the same man. The women do some light research. (Sylvie looks up the name the repo man was calling her, and Maggie looks at the pictures her daughter was trying to show her. They both realize that their husband is cheating on them. Maggie calls Sylvie, and they talk. They talk about the lies that he told them and how they felt like he would gaslight them when they would ask questions. 

Maggie is falling apart, popping pills, and pushing away her kids. Sylvie is determined to get her daughter into treatment and fix their broken family. Sylvie gets on a plane and goes to Maggie, telling her that she needs money for her daughter’s treatment, and they need to find Mark. Sylvie gives Maggie a reality check and says her pill-popping ways are a slippery slope. It snaps Maggie out of it, and they head to the band to work things out. 

Things don’t work out financially. Mark has liquidated all their assets, and there’s a lean on their houses. The women decide to work together to raise money for Grace’s tuition and Eve’s ED treatment. Maggie hosts an estate sale to unload all of her jewels. They also get a notice from the FBI about a house in upstate New York. 

They go up to the cabin and learn more about each other. The wives also realize the differences in their relationship with Mark. Sylvie opens up about when she hit rock bottom, and her daughter was almost eaten by a reptile… A REPTILE! Mark saved her baby and won her over. Maggie was a poor kid whose mom worked in a diner, and she has spent her life trying to get away from that life, Mark was who saved her from that life… until now. 

Maggie stays in upstate New York and is working at a diner. The chef at the diner, Quinn, asks her to go on a date with him, which she refuses. Sylvie is doing all the yoga and meditating while her daughter is in recovery. 

Mark shows up at Sylvie’s house and is disheveled. Sylvie calls Maggie and asks what to do. Maggie tells her to call the cops. Sylvie tries to reason with Mark instead, and he only wants her to help him get to New York. He also blames getting married too young, but he promises he still loves her. Sylvie lets Mark stay on the couch for the night. Maggie is suspicious and books a flight to Sylvie’s house. When she arrives, she sees Mark and Sylvie playing house and calls the cops to arrest him.

Maggie is happy that Mark is in jail and tells Sylvie that she is his doormat and only used her to boost his ego. They argue and blame each other for their problems instead of MARK!!!! (Who, honestly, isn’t even that hot to be worth all of this drama.

Mark is found guilty of embezzlement, grand larceny, and fraud. He is sentenced to two years in prison. 

As time passes, Maggie gets more comfortable with her cabin life. (and with Quinn, they have sex in his truck.) Sylvie is still struggling with managing Eve’s eating disorder. Which is not getting better because she “just wants her family back” (This is a problematic depiction of someone struggling with bulimia.) Eve doesn’t want to go to community college or rehab. She runs away from home and is heading to New York to get wasted and see her dad because he is getting out of prison early. 

At a party, Eve and Grace see each other again. Eve drinks too much, and Grace tries to help her when she OD’s, but can’t. Without anywhere else to turn, Grace calls Maggie, who leaves the diner to help and finds Eve in bed without a pulse. She calls Sylvie (and 911). Maggie and Grace perform CPR on Eve and bring her back to life as the ambulance arrives on the scene. Eve has bradycardia, and her body is shutting down. 

Sylvie shows up and is very thankful to Grace and Maggie for saving her daughter’s life. Sylvie asks Maggie to stay with her in the hospital, and they apologize to one another. Eve wakes up and is going to have to go on dialysis. (Eve is only concerned about where her father is.) Sylvie can’t afford to pay for Eve’s treatment. Maggie finds some money that Mark has been hiding. In the cabin.

At the cabin, the women laugh about their old lives. Maggie takes a knife to an opulent portrait of herself and finds money in the frame, three million dollars. They are rich now!!! When Mark shows up at the cabin, they tell him that they found the stolen money and he can’t have any of it. He steals the money while they are sleeping, but his push car won’t start. Sylvie and Maggie catch him and take the money back. They pay him off to go away forever. 

With Mark out of the picture, the women make salad and rolls and go camping. They take a NEW family picture with a selfie stick……

Side Note

Minority Report: Sylvie and Eve

Mark is such a poorly written character who left me with WAY too many questions. 

This movie had so much potential! I think it was let down by its source material by Jane Green, not really bring on brand with the Lifetime movies that we know and love. 

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Overall rating

🔪🔪 (2 Knives)

🍷🍷🍷🍷 (4 glasses of wine required)

*Photo Credit: © 2019 Lifetime