The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011)

[MacReadyOrNot]

The Johnsons are an attractive, well-to-do, upper-middle class family. Sidney, husband and father, is a famous poet, known and adored for his kindness and sensitivity. Joan, wife and mother, is a dutiful housewife, an obsessive homemaker and the life of every party. Their son, Isaiah, is a charismatic young man who has just gotten married to an equally appealing young woman. In fact, there is only [one] thing that separates the Johnsons from their charming friends and neighbors: Isaiah, the son,

SPOILER: Click to show

has been molesting Sidney, the father, since he was twelve years old...

THE STRANGE THING ABOUT THE JOHNSONS is a dark satire of the domestic melodrama, which asks "What if...?" and then, for some reason, comes up with an answer.

Source: www.imdb.com/title/tt1772398/

[MacReadyOrNot]

Turning an old trope on its head and making it weird and disturbing is exactly what Ari Aster is becoming more and more known for, and this is where it all pretty much began.

Wow. Powerful use of role reversals.

The message here is just as cutting and shocking as if it were the way we know abuse to be. Maybe more so, because of how this doesn't quite translate in our heads like it should. There's no familiarity with this kind of dynamic. No desensitization. We're use to it being the other way around, sadly.

You're going to want to take a shower after this one to feel clean again. Maybe several showers.