The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

Danny Meyerowitz drives daughter Eliza to Bard College. Unemployed, divorced, anxious. Father Harold is sculptor, narcissistic, demanding. Family gathering for retrospective. Dysfunction awaits.

Harold: "I gave you culture, I gave you art." Theme of parental narcissism, children seeking approval they will never get, and forgiving flawed parents while accepting own damage.

Danny oldest son, emotionally volatile, unsuccessful. Matthew half-brother, LA businessman, functional. Jean sister, invisible child, drinking problem. All orbit demanding father Harold who sees only himself. Patterns established.

Harold having retrospective at Bard. Must go through his work. Danny and Jean help. Matthew arrives from LA. Brothers awkward. Family forced together. Old wounds resurface. Pretending things are fine.

Should children finally confront father about narcissism and neglect? Matthew seems to have escaped by distancing. Danny cannot let go. Jean ignored completely. Different coping strategies. Who chose wisely?

Retrospective opens. Harold surrounded by admirers. Sons realize father minor artist, not genius he claims. Must reckon with reality: father is ordinary narcissist not brilliant tortured artist. Entering truth.

Danny and Matthew forced to collaborate. Danny explodes at retrospective, fights someone. Matthew must bail him out. Brothers connect over shared damage. Jean finally speaks up about being ignored. Sibling bonds forming.

Harold health failing. Sons must handle affairs. Going through storage, finding old art. Harold stories do not match reality. Maureen, fourth wife, overwhelmed. Promise: adult children dealing with aging narcissist father.

Harold hospitalized with brain injury. May not recover. False defeat: father always looming figure, suddenly vulnerable. Sons must decide how to care for man who never saw them. Role reversal uncomfortable.

Brothers fight about father care. Matthew wants to decide everything. Danny feels dismissed again. Jean spirals with drinking. Harold unconscious but still controlling them. Cannot escape patterns even at his deathbed.

Danny breaks down. Realizes spent life seeking approval he will never get. Matthew admits he succeeded just to escape father shadow. Jean admits drinking to cope with being invisible. All damaged. Father did this.

Harold may die without ever seeing his children. They wait at hospital. Each processing their childhood. Matthew shares that father destroyed his confidence too. United in damage. Grief mixed with anger mixed with love.

Harold wakes, diminished. Sons realize they can let go now. Do not need his approval. Can accept he is flawed man, not monster or genius. Synthesis: forgiving without forgetting, moving forward without bitterness.

Eliza film screened (about grandfather). Honest portrayal, warts and all. Harold present but no longer center. Family supports each other not him. Danny and Matthew closer. Jean getting help. New dynamic emerging.

Family dinner without Harold dominating. Laughing, sharing memories both good and bad. Father alive but no longer looming. Adult children free now. Damage acknowledged but not defining. Complicated peace achieved.