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LMN has rolled out two thrillers this week, and the second one is very curious indeed as it was originally scheduled to air in February as Murder and Mayhem at Mardi Gras to tie in with the annual event in New Orleans, but it was delayed and retitled for unknown reasons, perhaps because there is only one murder (well, technically two but they bookend the story) — not actually at Mardi Gras — and very little mayhem, so now it is part of this month’s ‘Revenge is a Mother’ series of films (which explains the ‘Matriarch’ in the new title). The first murder in question kicks off the story as a prologue showing a young mother, doting over her new baby, coming face-to-face with someone in her home wearing a Mardi Gras mask, but it’s not the baby daddy she’s expecting. Suddenly fearing for her life, the woman tries to run away, but the masked assailant catches her and they struggle on the staircase, the woman losing the battle and tumbling to her death. I should note that the woman bears an uncanny resemblance to actress Skye Coyne.
And that’s because … Skye Coyne stars as Danielle, a young woman originally from New Orleans but now from somewhere else across the country, a newly minted lawyer with some personal business in the Big Easy to attend to before she begins her career, chatting on the phone with a friend about meeting up with someone and not expecting them to roll out the red carpet, but she needs to say what she needs to say face-to-face. When she arrives at the grand Southern mansion, she’s greeted at the door by a woman named Ingrid. Danielle asks if this is the home of Claire Monreau, and an older woman comes to the door. Danielle blurts out that she is Claire’s granddaughter … so now it all makes sense. She was the baby and it was her doppelgänger mother who was murdered in that house. Claire can see the stunning likeness to her daughter and immediately accepts Danielle, never thinking the day would come when the two would be reunited. And judging from Ingrid’s hovering around Claire, it’s not a moment too soon as the senior Monreau has some health issues. They engage in some small talk about how Danielle hired a P.I. to find Claire, and Claire shows her around the house and offers her a bedroom where she can hang out for a couple of hours because Claire is scheduled to have a major meeting with her Krewe de Chevalieres to go over plans for the upcoming Mardi Gras parade and festivities.
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The meeting begins but there is one chair empty, quickly filled by Louise Benoit (Claire’s niece, therefore Danielle’s aunt), who always seems to have an excuse but shows up at just the right moment to interrupt. Louise is also married to the son of the former governor of Louisiana, and even though they are no longer in the political arena, Louise has held on to her social and political connections with an iron grip to maintain herself as a major influence in the city and state. The order of business at the meeting is to craft a plan for succession due to Claire’s age and health, and Louise is all too eager to step up for the position. But Danielle has been eavesdropping just outside the room, and a sneeze gives her away. Though it is a closed meeting, Danielle is family so Claire invites her in for introductions and Louise looks like she’s seen a ghost. And within the first fifteen minutes we know almost the entire plot of the movie. Things become even more clear when Louise’s weak and subservient husband, Alex, is introduced into the story and then it all makes sense. Maybe you’ll figure it out, maybe you won’t but during the course of the story, Louise attempts to kill Claire by swapping out her prescription with one of her own prescriptions (or Alex’s, although if the pills she swaps out are any indication, either she or Alex aren’t in the best of health either). Claire survives, but as she is incapacitated, Danielle reads up on the Krewe’s bylaws and discovers that, as family, she can act as a proxy vote for her grandmother at the next meeting, throwing a complete monkeywrench into Louise’s plan to appoint herself as the leader of the Krewe while Claire recuperates (you kind of get the feeling she’s one to put her name on everything and anything that doesn’t actually belong to her). But Danielle has the power to nominate someone else, Ingrid, and they take a vote. Louise, unfortunately, has too many cronies in the group so Danielle loses. This time. Danielle has also befriended another young woman, Michelle, who along with her mother has been ostracized by the socialites of the city because her father was involved in a fraud scheme so naturally the wife and daughter are made to be outcasts. But Michelle is taken aback by Danielle’s kindness and invites her to attend her first Mardi Gras parade with Michelle and her friend Robert, whom Danielle had met briefly earlier and Michelle could see there were some sparks (though it’s unclear if she was giving a look of approval or jealousy). But as Michelle is leaving the meeting, Louise corners her and makes her all kinds of promises that she and her mother will be welcomed back into society if she becomes a little minion for her. Sadly, social status takes precedence over friendship, and when she, Danielle and Robert are at a bar, she orders shots for them and drugs Danielle’s. By the time they leave and start walking through the crowd, Danielle is getting woozy and she gets separated from Robert and Michelle, finding herself in a dark alley, confronted by someone in a black mask, hat and cape (the Mardi Gras version of the Black Hoodie) brandishing a big knife. Before the assailant can strike, another masked figure appears and fights off the would-be killer. When Danielle wakes up back at her grandmother’s house, she is surprised to find Alex there … and then it clicks. He leaves and Claire gives Danielle a set of keys that opens a small wooden box, and inside are love letters from Alex to her mother, Charlotte. Danielle now puts all the pieces together, and knows that her mother’s killer, and the person who tried to kill her is … well, we shant spoil it if you haven’t figured it out just yet.
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The Secrets of the Matriarch is an odd type of thriller for LMN because it’s not really a whodunit. If you don’t know who the killer is before the first commercial break, you’re not paying attention. The movie is more of a ‘when will she figure it out’ story, always putting us one step ahead of Danielle, who may be slow on the uptake but she doesn’t do anything stupid and she seems to already have Louise on her radar, reporting to the police that it had to be Louise who switched out Claire’s drugs … but the police seem to be on the take from the Benoits, so they just advise Danielle to keep her accusations to herself. Her only real mistake was trusting in a social outcast who wanted nothing more than to be let back into the party. To her credit, Michelle did have a slight twinge of guilt drugging the shots and it seemed like she nearly decided not to go through with it, but her own needs took precedence. Unfortunately, we never get to see Danielle confront Michelle and accuse her of the crime, robbing us of a sweet moment where Danielle gets to tell her that she and her mother will be blackballed from every Krewe event until the end of time. Sadly, she doesn’t hook up with Robert again either, but it would have been nice to see his reaction when he learns what Michelle did, not only completely losing her status but her friend as well. Even knowing pretty much how the story was going to play out, the screenplay by John Hayes is still fun, allowing us to play along and see if what we think is going to happen is right. Director Lisa Frank does a fine job of keeping the story moving, if not surprising, but there were a couple of small technical glitches that were distracting, one particularly glaring. When Louise sneaks back in the house to re-swap the medication, Danielle is there and nearly catches her. Fearing they will come face-to-face, Louise grabs a large wooden candlestick holder, and when she turns it so we can see the bottom … it still has a price sticker on it (very Home Goods looking)! Claire Monreau would never! And perhaps Louise was just as appalled because from one shot to the next, the tag disappears. At that point they should have just left it on. There’s also a scene that began as night but sunlight is glaring through a window behind Danielle’s head in another shot. And there is the curious case of the manila envelope Danielle is preparing to mail to the ‘Swamp News’ office. Seriously, that is where it is addressed! But that’s not the craziest part about the address. The street name is Pearl River, and the city is Pump Slough. Of course since the envelope is so clearly on display, I could not help but Google ‘Pump Slough’ and it turns out that is actually a road name, and Pearl River is the city. Was that intentional or did the props team get the names mixed up? So some points off for production errors.
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The cast is mostly very good. Skye Coyne is excellent as Danielle. She brings a certain humbleness to the role, not barreling in and demanding to be accepted as family. She brings a nice warmth and kindness to the character when she takes it upon herself to greet the shunned women, and it really seems like she’s got a friend in Michelle. Then she gets to show her intelligence by applying Danielle’s legal skills to the Krewe meeting, showing Louise she isn’t someone to be trifled with. Of course that gets her into trouble, but she still remains strong. Coyne also brings a lot of emotion to the role as she worries about her grandmother and then discovers the letters that finally give her the big picture. The movie itself may not be the greatest, but Coyne, as always, turns in a wonderful performance.
Ellen B. Williams is also very good as Claire. She was hard to read upon her first meeting with Danielle. Was she really happy to see her or was there some kind of plot brewing? She eventually shows that she does indeed cherish having her long lost granddaughter back home, but perhaps some of the reservation she seems to carry stem from the fact that she’s hiding the truth about her parentage from Danielle, which is understandable because that would be a lot to unload on someone within a day of meeting them for the first time. Williams always carries Claire with a regal air about her, befitting her status as the matriarch of the family and the Krewe, and a grand dame of New Orleans society.
Christy Tate is a bit much as Louise, going just a tad over-the-top, pouring on the ‘Southern Charm’ a bit too thick, her performance often veering into caricature (I don’t know if her accent is real or not, but it felt forced). The second she sees Danielle, her reaction is less than subtle and you know right away what the story is. Every action is just for Louise’s benefit, and she isn’t afraid to just telegraph her intentions. Of course, that is how the character is written, but the director needed to have her tone it down just a touch, give Louise a little more subtlety. The way she pulls Michelle aside, and how she talks to her husband is straight out of 1980s primetime soap territory. Tate just camps it up too much when everyone else is in a completely different movie. Eric Olson (whose name is misspelled in the end credits as ‘Olsen’) has a tough role to play as Louise’s husband, Alex, but he does a nice job. He is completely henpecked by Louise in the first half of the movie, and he does register a nice mild shock at seeing Danielle for the first time. After the attempt on her life, he finally opens up a bit and shows that Alex is actually a good man and does not deserve to be stuck with someone like Louise.
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Monanik ‘Moe’ Dugar is perfect as Ingrid, Claire’s right hand. She always seems to have her guard up with Danielle, very protective of Claire. She finally seems to warm up to Danielle when she nominates Ingrid to fill Claire’s shoes since she’s been there every step of the way. She is quite matter-of-fact, and perhaps her guard with Danielle is because she also knows Danielle’s backstory and is concerned about what will happen if Claire lets the cat out of the bag. I really liked her performance and I hope she pops up in more movies. Sarah Sampino also does a nice job as Michelle. She really seems touched when Danielle approaches her and her mother at the party when everyone else is just giving them the stink eye, but she also reveals that her position in life is more important when she is made an offer by Louise. Since she was so happy to have Danielle as a friend, you have hope that she will turn around and tell her what Louise wants but she is ultimately selfish, and we feel cheated in the end when she isn’t confronted. Zach Zebrowski plays Robert as a nice guy with an obvious interest in Danielle, leaving us to hope that they will get together at some point. Unfortunately, when Robert gets lost in the crowd, so does Zebrowski and that’s the last we see of him. You also have to wonder if Michelle didn’t turn on Danielle because she was interested in Robert herself and was jealous of his instant chemistry with Danielle. Just another unanswered question.
I’m usually baffled by the choices made when movie titles are changed before being broadcast on LMN, but the change here from Murder and Mayhem at Mardi Gras to The Secrets of the Matriarch actually makes more sense, especially since the original title made it sound more like a slasher film. The matriarch, Claire, certainly does have secrets so it was a wise choice to make the change. The three month delay in airing the film is perplexing as it would have landed better during Mardi Gras season. But it is what it is, less a thriller than a character drama where we know the secrets before the main character does, allowing us to get involved and wonder just how long it’s going to take before Danielle figures it all out. I was concerned that it was just going to be flat out terrible because of the delay, but it ended up being an entertaining diversion, a little campy (unintentionally but perhaps it could have used more), very soapy — this really could be developed into a primetime drama with the elites of New Orleans battling it out for power — but all grounded by an excellent performance by Skye Coyne. It’s a different type of ‘thriller’ for LMN, if that is the proper word, but it is a fun watch.
The Secrets of the Matriarch has a run time of 1 hour 30 minutes, and is rated TV-14.