Beneath the tale of a land baron trying to keep his family afloat after his wife suffers an irreparable brain injury, The Descendants is ultimately a study of required duplicity and a tale of revenge, pitting Matt King (George Clooney) on a quest for the man who cuckolded him.
Admittedly, King doesn’t have to look far. He and his daughters, seventeen-year-old Alex (Shailene Woodley) and ten-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller), live on the island of Kauai, which only has a population of 64,000 people, so finding the local real estate magnate isn’t too difficult. The difficulty comes in keeping himself and his family together. In brief, King is “the backup parent. The alternate.” His wife, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) has a penchant for extreme sports, but also seems to be the disciplinarian of the two. Matt is often in his office, brokering deals, and keeping his family with enough money to “do something, but not enough to do nothing.” In this regard, Matt understands the value of hard work and tries to embark the same philosophy onto his children; however, his absence becomes the reason why, despite their cohabitation and marriage, they “hadn’t spoken in months.”
So, when Elizabeth is injured in a speed boating accident and falls into a coma, Matt’s regret and disappointment in himself have no outlet – until he finds out about Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard). The revelation is a staple in the previews, so it’s no surprise that his eldest daughter breaks the news. However, in the context of the film, this information shows just how isolated Matt is from the rest of society. In a sense – much like the county he inhabits – he is an island unto himself, separate, and slowly drifting away from anything close. Not only does Alex know more about Elizabeth than Matt does, but so do Kai and Mark (Mary Birdson, Rob Huebel), the King’s best-couple-friends. Therefore, Matt, to his belief, has also been deceived by those to whom he feels the closest, which leaves him without any allies. Even Elizabeth’s father, Scott, dislikes Matt – and not in that typical, protective father-in-law way. Rather, there is quite a bit of detestation as Scott (Robert Forester) blames Matt’s absence and lack of attention on Elizabeth’s need to partake in extreme sports, or when he accuses Matt of pinching too many pennies to provide Elizabeth with her own boat, “one she was familiar with.” Certainly, a lot of this anger derives from grief and the pain of losing a child, but it’s consistent throughout the film, and Matt is left with nothing to say.
But, what could he say? He can’t deny his absence, and he has too much tact – or pride – to point out that Elizabeth had fallen in love with another man and “planned to ask for a divorce.” Here, The Descendants also tackles the tricky issue of infidelity. It certainly doesn’t condone the act, but Elizabeth is never vilified. The audience is aware that Matt had a part in his wife’s transgression – and he knows it as well, which leaves him with no other recourse but to search for Brian Speer.
As a family, the Kings travel to the big island of Hawaii and rent a room in a resort owned by King’s cousin Hugh (Beau Bridges). While there, Matt jogs past Speer on the beach, makes a u-turn and trails him to a cottage. Moments when King ducks and dodges behind hedges are comical, but also filled with tension. He’s hesitant to just approach the man, or haul off and coldcock him, but this seems to result less from meticulous planning and more from abject confusion about whether Speer is to blame or if the brunt of Matt’s anger would be guided solely toward Elizabeth if she were conscious. Regardless, the potential of a brawl is elided when Brian enters a cottage with a handful of chairs on the lawn and three or four plastic cups on a picnic table, which signifies the inevitable reveal that Brian is married.
Here, King backs away from the entrance and plots his next move: talking to Brian’s wife, Julie Speer (Judy Greer), on the beach the next day. As her children play in the surf, Matt chats her up, perhaps to see why Brian would cheat on her, or perhaps to gauge how much his accusation would cost another person’s family. Either way, that night, Alex and Matt venture to Speer’s cottage. Alex occupies Julie, and Matt interrogates Brian, informs him about Elizabeth’s condition so that he might stop in and visit her, and throws in a “fuck you” for good measure.
Flaunting his knowledge of Brian’s transgression in front of his wife and in the solace of his own home, Matt gets his revenge of sorts, but also serves to illustrate the required duplicity in a situation filled with gray area. Having no one to truly turn to, Matt is forced to keep his questions for and condemnations of his wife to himself while respectfully making sure “everyone who knows Elizabeth deserves a chance to say goodbye.” This act is noble and necessary, but it’s only cathartic for those unaffiliated with the marriage. Ironically, “goodbye” is that last thing that Matt wants to say because it means everything is over. As he berates his comatose wife, all of his questions are rendered rhetorical: “Who are you?!” “What’re you going to say for yourself?!” “Isn’t the idea of marriage to make your partner’s life easier?!” Much like Matt, we learn that revenge doesn’t bring closure; it simply passes time.
Despite the turmoil and the heartache, The Descendants is touching, heart-rending, and tear jerking. It’s a film that questions our focuses and how to balance them. It makes us question what we own, what we’ve earned, and what has been “entrusted to us.” Overall, it’s a film that showcases the cause-and-effect connection between love and hate – and the ease with which we can slide between the two.
