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〕 |gross = $216.6 million〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Help (2011) – Box Office Mojo )〕 }} ''The Help'' is a 2011 American period drama film directed and written by Tate Taylor, and adapted from Kathryn Stockett's 2009 novel of the same name. Featuring an ensemble cast, the film is about a young white woman, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, and her relationship with two black maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, during the Civil Rights era in 1963 Jackson, Mississippi. Skeeter is a journalist who decides to write a book from the point of view of the maids (referred to as "the help"), exposing the racism they are faced with as they work for white families. The film stars Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Ahna O'Reilly, Chris Lowell, Sissy Spacek, Mike Vogel, Cicely Tyson, LaChanze, Allison Janney, Mary Steenburgen, and Anna Camp. Produced by DreamWorks Pictures and released by Touchstone Pictures, the film opened to positive reviews and became a commercial success with a worldwide box office gross of $216 million〔 against its production budget of $25 million. ''The Help'' received four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Actress for Davis, and Best Supporting Actress for both Chastain and Spencer, with the latter winning the award. The film also won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. ==Plot== In 1963 Jackson, Mississippi, Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) is a black maid spending her life raising white children after the death of her only son from an industrial accident. She works for the Leefolt family, principally taking care of the children of Elizabeth Leefolt, a young woman gripped with postpartum depression who refuses to acknowledge her daughter except when disciplining her. Aibileen's best friend is Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer), an outspoken black maid who has long worked for Hilly Holbrook's (Bryce Dallas Howard) mother, Mrs. Walters (Sissy Spacek), to the point that they are very comfortable with each other. Minny's stormy temper is tolerated due to respect for her great cooking skills. Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone) is an independent thinking young white woman returning to the family plantation after graduating from the University of Mississippi〔 〕 to find that her beloved childhood maid, Constantine (Cicely Tyson), has quit while she was away. She is perplexed as she believes Constantine would not have left without writing her, and she eventually learns that Constantine was fired by Skeeter's mother Charlotte (Allison Janney). While Skeeter's social group attended college to find husbands, Skeeter herself earned a double-major degree and remains single, much to Charlotte's chagrin, and aspires to have a successful writing career. She begins making inroads towards this goal when she lands a job with the local paper as a "homemaker hints" columnist, asking Elizabeth if Aibileen could help her in answering the letters; after gaining permission from Elizabeth (who in turn "gained permission" from Hilly) and approaching Aibileen herself, the maid agrees. Upon spending time with Aibileen one-on-one, Skeeter becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the attitude of her white socialite female friends towards their "help", especially after learning of Hilly's "Home Help Sanitation Initiative", a plan to legislate mandatory separate toilets for black domestic help because "they (black people) carry different diseases than we (white people) do". Inspired by her relationship with Constantine, Skeeter forms an idea of writing about the relationships between whites and their black help, especially since the children raised by black maids tend to take on the prejudiced attitudes of their parents when they become adults. The maids are reluctant to cooperate, afraid of retribution from their employers, but Aibileen eventually agrees. Minny also cooperates after being fired by Hilly for using the guest bath as instructed by Mrs. Walters instead of going out into tornado weather to use the help's outdoor toilet. Hilly makes finding work difficult for Minny by saying she had stolen from her, which then causes Minny's daughter to leave school to work as a maid. Minny eventually finds work with a working-class outcast Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain), who is married to wealthy socialite Johnny Foote (Mike Vogel), the ex-boyfriend Hilly never truly got over. Celia informs Minny that she's pregnant. Because of her sweet disposition, ignorance to the unspoken social caste and exuberant personality, Celia is clueless about how to 'properly' treat Minny as an employee in her home; she often joins Minny in the kitchen for cooking lessons and they share the meals they make together while providing each other with advice on how to deal with the bullies each woman faces in her life. At the same time, Skeeter has begun to withdraw from this same circle of her own volition despite meeting Stuart (Chris Lowell) through Hilly and beginning a relationship with him that delights Charlotte immensely. The relationship between Celia and Minny deepens further after Celia miscarries and she informs Minny that she and Johnny had married because she got pregnant, but lost the baby a month later; she has also miscarried two other babies. During a charity event at which Hilly's circle further mock her, Celia consumes only cocktails and has an unfortunate confrontation with Hilly which further ostracizes her from the popular-girls' circle. Skeeter submits the draft book to a New York City editor with Harper & Row, Elaine Stein (Mary Steenburgen), who advises her that more maids' stories need to be included, and that it has to happen quickly as the holidays are approaching and the newly developing Civil Rights Movement may be short-lived. A culmination of the Medgar Evers assassination, and Hilly having Minny's replacement arrested for stealing a worthless ring, brings forth more maids than Skeeter could have hoped would speak out, as the maids realize Skeeter's book could give them an opportunity to make known what they experience in life. What Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny realize so late in their writing of the book is that some stories are very connected with particular maids and families, and begin to worry that they will be exposed. Their worries are heightened following the assassination of President Kennedy. Thus, Minny, as a form of "insurance", reveals her "Terrible Awful" story to ensure that the employers will not retaliate lest they confirm family secrets: Minny had retaliated for being fired and for slurs on her reputation by baking her renowned chocolate pie especially for Hilly by adding her own excrement to it, making it a point to keep Mrs. Walters away from it. Hilly ate two slices of the pie before Minny told her what she had put in it, causing Mrs. Walters to break out in a laughing fit, for which Hilly subsequently locked her away in a convalescent home. Minny predicts that putting the Terrible Awful into the book will keep the other maids safe from retribution, as Hilly would rather die than let it be known she was the subject of the Terrible Awful, and she will wield her social influence to convince anyone who will listen that the story did not take place in Jackson. Skeeter, having written the Terrible Awful in the draft, decides to add one last story: that of Constantine. She confronts her mother for the truth. Charlotte reveals that during a lunch with the DAR, Constantine's daughter Rachel arrived and disobeyed Charlotte's orders of entering through the kitchen. In order to save face, Charlotte fires Constantine and orders her and Rachel to leave. Some time later, Rachel took Constantine to Chicago, where she died. The book, published anonymously to protect Skeeter and her contributors' identities, is a success, and the royalties are shared with the maids. When Stuart becomes aware of the book's contents and feels deceived, he splits up with her. Minny confesses about the Terrible Awful to Celia, who finally sees Hilly for the manipulative bully she is. Thinking that all is safe with the origins of the book, Hilly becomes enraged when a contribution from Celia to one of Hilly's charitable works is made out to "Two Slice Hilly." Drunk, humiliated and spoiling for a fight, she drives to Skeeter's home to confront Skeeter. When Hilly moves to storm into the house and tattle on Skeeter's 'hippie' ways to Charlotte, Charlotte appears on the porch, commenting on her haggard appearance and observing she must have been eating 'too much pie', implying she knows exactly who the Terrible Awful was written about without Skeeter saying a word, then kicks her off the property. After Hilly's departure, Charlotte and Skeeter are able to reconcile, with Charlotte voicing her strong-spirited and independent daughter really is quite extraordinary and should be admired, especially when she takes a phone call intended for Skeeter from Elaine about being offered a publishing job and Charlotte offers to help Skeeter prepare for this life-changing move from Jackson to Manhattan. Celia thinks that she has adequately deceived her husband about bringing in Minny to help her manage the housekeeping; however, when Johnny comes up the drive while Minny is walking to the house with groceries, Minny thinks he will be furious with her, and she runs terrified toward the house. He is able to catch up with her on foot and reveals that not only has he known Minny has been working there the whole time, but that he also learned of Celia's multiple miscarriages and that once Minny arrived, Celia's health began to improve, a grace for which he is profoundly grateful. Johnny helps Minny take her bags to the house, where she is surprised by a table full of food Celia has prepared entirely herself as a result of Minny's cooking lessons. Both Johnny and Celia inform Minny she has a job with them for as long as she wants. This kindness gives Minny the courage to leave her abusive husband, and she takes her children to live with the Footes. In conclusion, Hilly is back to her old ways: knowing she cannot have Aibileen imprisoned for her writings without exposing herself, she vindictively intends instead to frame her for the theft of some loaned silver cutlery. Aibileen attempts to hold her ground timidly at first while Elizabeth attempts to let the issue pass. Hilly presses the issue to the point where she fires Elizabeth's help; for Aibileen, this is the turning point, as she has had enough of Hilly's hideous selfishness and blindly arrogant attempts to control everyone around her, and condemns her as a godless, vindictive woman, never at peace. Hilly then leaves and breaks down in tears, defeated and humiliated after what Aibileen said. A departing Aibileen reassures Elizabeth's distraught daughter Mae Mobley with the creed that she has said to all her charges, then, compelled by Elizabeth, leaves for a new life, reflecting on her wishes of becoming a writer. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Help (film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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