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''The Homesman'' is a 2014 French-American period drama film set in the 1850s midwest produced and directed by Tommy Lee Jones and co-written with Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley Oliver, based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Glendon Swarthout. The film stars Jones and Hilary Swank and also features Meryl Streep, Hailee Steinfeld, John Lithgow, and James Spader. The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=2014 Official Selection )〕 and received a North American limited release on November 14, 2014 by Roadside Attractions.〔(Cambridge Film Festival )〕'' The Homesman'' has received mostly positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating average of 7.2/10. The title refers to the task of taking immigrants back home, which was typically a man's job to carry out. ==Plot== Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank) is a 31-year-old spinster from New York, a former teacher who journeyed to the Midwest for more opportunity. She is an active member of the small farming community Loup City, Nebraska Territory, and has significant financial prospects and sizable land ownership. She seems strong and independent, but suffers from depression and isolation after being rejected by several potential husbands for being unattractive and overbearing. She makes dinner for and sings to her neighbor Bob Giffen (Evan Jones), but when she proposes, he turns her down and leaves to find a wife back east. After a harsh winter, three women from the community begin to show signs of mental instability due to the hardships they have faced. Arabella Sours (Grace Gummer) has lost three children to diphtheria, Theoline Belknapp (Miranda Otto) is forced to kill her own child after a poor harvest puts her family at risk of starvation, and Gro Svendsen (Sonja Richter), a Danish immigrant, is shown to be in a mutually abusive relationship with her husband and suffers a breakdown after her mother dies. Reverend Dowd (John Lithgow) calls upon one of their husbands to escort the women eastward to a church in Hebron, Iowa that cares for the mentally ill. Unsatisfied with any of the men's potential, Mary Bee volunteers for the task alone, and Dowd reluctantly agrees. While preparing for her journey, Cuddy encounters George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones), a claim jumper, who is about to be lynched for stealing Bob Giffen's land while he is away. Briggs begs Cuddy for help. Scared to make the trip alone, she frees him in return for his help escorting the women. He immediately casts doubt on the job and insists he is free to abandon her at any time. Cuddy tells him that $300 is waiting for him at their destination as a way of persuading him to remain with her as they make the journey. Briggs's experience comes in handy when the group crosses paths with hostile Indians. Later, when Arabella is kidnapped by a freighter (Tim Blake Nelson), Briggs gives chase, and the two men have a violent scuffle before Arabella kills her kidnapper. Eventually the caravan comes across the desecrated grave of an eleven-year-old girl, and Cuddy insists they stop and restore it. Briggs vows to push on, so Cuddy stays behind and agrees to catch up with him. After restoring the grave, Cuddy sets out on horseback. However, she does not know the way, and after riding all night, she discovers that she has gone in a circle and that her horse has led her back to the grave. Finally catching up to Briggs after another night of riding, Cuddy, distraught over having to wander the desert, suggests they marry. Briggs, like all the previous men, rejects Cuddy on the grounds that she is too plain and too bossy, but also because he enjoys having no commitments in life. That night, a naked Cuddy propositions him and the two have sex. The next morning, Briggs finds that Cuddy has committed suicide. Briggs chastises Sours, Belknapp, and Svendsen, blaming their illness for Cuddy's death. Briggs buries Cuddy's body and, discovering that she had the $300 with her the entire time, takes a horse and abandons the three women. The trio continues to follow him on foot, and Arabella almost drowns while chasing him across a river. Briggs saves her and decides to take them to Iowa instead. Briggs seeks food and shelter at a hotel belonging to Aloysius Duffy (James Spader), who informs him that they have no rooms available for the caravan despite the hotel being completely empty. Briggs lashes out at Duffy, whose men pull out guns of their own, resulting in a brief stand-off. Briggs leaves, but returns that night alone on horseback. He sends away the young cook, instructing her not to look back, and sets the hotel on fire. Briggs takes a roasted pig to feed himself and the women and exits the hotel, leaving all inside to be burned alive. Briggs reaches Hebron, passing the women into the care of Altha Carter (Meryl Streep), the wife of the church's reverend. He informs her of Cuddy's death but does not disclose the true cause. Guilty about having rejected Mary Bee's proposal, he has a wooden slab engraved with her name and plans to mark her grave with it. He proposes to Tabitha Hutchinson (Hailee Steinfeld), a young maid at the hotel he is staying at, who replies by telling him "maybe". He then boards a river ferry heading west, where he meets two musicians and starts to sing. When asked to stop, he chastises the people at the pier for wanting to go to the western territories, calling the west a "goddamn devil". Briggs returns to singing, and as the ferry departs, one of the bargemen kicks Mary Bee's marker into the river. 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 Homesman」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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