From Omeleto.
A teenager struggles with her mother.
JULES is used with permission from Jenny Ward. Learn more at https://jennywardedits.com.
Tara is a teenager living at home with her father, Dean, and her mother Jules. Life at home can be difficult with Jules’s struggles with bipolar disorder, but Dean does his best to maintain stability and a semblance of normalcy.
When Jules finds herself in another manic episode one evening, Tara has had enough. Tara lashes out, confronting a whirlwind of emotions ranging from anger to confusion to longing for closeness and understanding with her mother. Taking some distance from home with her dad, Tara must find a balance between love and frustration as she deals with the fallout.
Directed and written by Jenny Ward, this thoughtful, honest short drama examines the intricate dynamics of a family affected by mental illness. Well-written and crafted with subtlety, it tells the story from the point-of-view of a teenage daughter affected by her mother’s latest manic episode. From this vantage point, the film invites us to empathize with those navigating similar challenges and consider how a mental illness has ripple effects within a family system, affecting everyone in the home.
With visuals that emphasize subtlety and realism, the nuanced storytelling offers an intimate but unvarnished perspective of the home. The home has character and warmth, but there’s a heaviness in the shadows and claustrophobia in some of the framing, as well as a constant din of Jules shouting in the sound design. Though she’s often visually marginalized in wider shots, close-ups of Tara emphasize her strong but unspoken thoughts and feelings, with actor Nastasia Koulich’s beautifully understated performance emphasizing the effort of holding it all in.
The film’s gift is its compassion for all its characters: the storytelling doesn’t shy away from portraying the emotional violence in Jules’s manic episode and how it affects the family, portrayed bravely by actor Victoria Ratermanis. But it also allows those characters helplessly affected by it to be honest about their feelings about it all, ranging from actor Marcus DeAnda’s weariness and exhaustion as Dean to Tara’s resentment. As it delves further into Tara’s perspective, we see memories of more tender, loving moments with her mom. Later, we also see a lyrical, dreamlike evocation of the moments she wishes she could experience with her mother, showing how we never stop longing for a parent’s love, even when we understand that sometimes they can’t meet our needs.
With its beautiful, fragile final interlude, JULES evokes a sense of peace and acceptance by its end, one that is honest about how mental health challenges generally have no tidy resolution for those affected by it, directly or indirectly. Its perspective is holistic, shedding light on the often-overlooked experiences of children and caretakers in families that struggle with it. Part of that struggle is learning to balance empathy for the parent while honoring their own emotional needs, which Tara learns to do. And by allowing Tara to give voice to her feelings and have them heard and accepted by her father, it also underscores the importance of open conversations around mental health — including the well-being of those who must live and love those affected by illness.
