Eulogy

Eulogy is a 2004 comedy-drama film written and directed by Michael Clancy. An international co-production between companies from Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the film follows a dysfunctional family as secrets come to light at the funeral of the family's patriarch. The film was given a limited theatrical release and grossed just under $90,000 against a $10 million budget. Plot Kate Collins walks up to a house. She knocks and a woman answers the door. Kate explains that although she doesn't know her she has a long story to explain. The story begins with the death of Kate's grandfather, Edmund. The movie then goes on to show how all the family members found out about the death, and how they came together for the funeral. As the Collins family joins their widowed mother/grandmother, Charlotte, the family's dysfunctions and idiosyncrasies come to light. Kate's father, Daniel Collins, is an "obscure foreign film" actor whose career peaked at age 8 when he appeared in a peanut butter commercial. Kate's uncle, Skip, is an overly hormonal father of overly hormonal twins Fred and Ted. Kate's aunt, Lucy, and her girlfriend Judy Arnolds, are criticized by the family because of their relationship. Most of this criticism comes from Kate's other aunt, Alice. The bossy, intimidating Alice has managed to both raise her three children and drive her husband into submissive silence, because of her persistent talking and badgering. Once they all arrive for the funeral, Kate is told by Charlotte that Edmund wished for her to give his eulogy. After a family dinner that goes south when Lucy and Judy announce that they are getting married, Charlotte tries to commit suicide by overdosing on a medication. While the family sits in the waiting room they run into Samantha, a nurse at the hospital who is also an old friend of Alice's. After having her stomach pumped, Charlotte tries again by jumping out of a moving van on a bridge and although she does not die, she is seriously injured and is confined to a wheelchair.