Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for The Woman in the Yard.
The Woman in the Yardmay be receiving mixed reviews, with41% on Rotten Tomatoesand a5.7/10 rating on IMDb, but if you think these are harsh, you are not alone. It may not be the most subtle metaphor about family grief and depression, but it is performed and shot incredibly well. It isn’t going to win anyAcademy Awards, butthis is not a bad movie by any means. It certainly isn’t “the worst movie ever,“as one person repeatedly screamed at me and everyonein the cinemaonce the credits began to roll.
The Woman in the YardfollowsRamona (Danielle Deadwyler)and her two children following the death of her husband and their father in a car crash that has left Ramona with a broken leg. In the house that he bought as a “fixer-upper,” things are slowly falling apart. As we see from an engaging opening sequence where Tay (Peyton Jackson) finds no dog food, power, or matches, Ramona is so depressed she cannot care for the kids. Once The Woman (Okwui Okpokasili) appears in the yard, the disturbing truth behind this collapse comes to light. The finalerecontextualizes Ramona and her husband’s relationship, as well as Ramona’s choice to either kill herself, and her children,or ruin all of their lives. Theending is going to dividepeople, as it arguably wraps it all up too simply. However, the ease of it reflects the choice we can all make to stay with our family and commit to taking everything one day at a time.
‘The Woman in the Yard’ Uses Trippy Time Cycles to Recontextualize Ramona’s Relationship With The Woman
The second act ends when we get a direct confrontation between Ramona and her kids, who have fled to the attic where no light gets in. After seemingly trapping Ramona in some kind of shadow realm, we see The Woman, one side of her face bashed in, limping over to a scaredAnnie (Estella Kahiha), telling her she would “never hurt” her.The Woman hugs Annie and the two of them disappear, which triggers Ramona to searchdown a dark tunnel for them, following a blinking torch as a beacon.
However, rather than finding Annie, Ramona enters a recreation of the first scene: a video of her and her husband, David (Russell Hornsby), talking about how he cannot wait until the house is finished. When we originally watched this, it had a romantic, playful vibe. But now that we know that Ramona was the one driving the car the night David died and that she has momentary visions of murdering her own kids, there is a tragic feeling of guilt that permeates Ramona’s words and actions. When she says she doesn’t know what to call the farm, it nowsounds like a character who isn’t sure because they truly don’t want to be there, rather than a joke that they haven’t thought about.
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We soon realize this is a manipulation from The Woman when Ramona tries to leave the vision, only forDavid to wrap a sheet around Ramona’s head, suffocating her. This is perhaps one of the moments of the film that doesn’t make sense for David’s characterization and is only there for shock value to move us to the next scene. However, it does reflect how Ramona felt controlled and crushed by the life she felt David forced on her. This leads to thetrippiest sequenceof the film, where Ramona is suddenly back in the first scene where we met The Woman, but now watching herself limp up to ask what she is doing there.
We get a repeat of the line “How did I get here?” as well as seeing Ramona as The Woman in the attic who took Annie, which gives the previous limp more context. It may be confusing and out of left field, but it does help to show howRamona and The Woman are the same personand that, rather than an unwanted threat who has come to invade, The Woman is actually an inadvertently invited guest.
‘The Woman in the Yard’ is Ramona’s Darkest Part of Her Grief and Depression
Once the head-turning sequence ends, it is just Ramona and The Woman upstairs in her room, and we finally get an explanation for why she is there. The Woman is an answer to Ramona’s prayers to “give me strength,” which was one of the first lines she spoke in the film, but the strength is much darker than we would think. From seeing The Woman before crashing the car to the visions of killing her children, the film seems to imply that Ramona’sdepressionandgriefhave become too strong and thatThe Woman is the part of her brain wishing to kill the things she resents for keeping her controlled. As she told her husband during their final dinner date, she feels her whole life is lived for others.
But Ramona still loves her kids and husband. We could read the car crash as her attempting to kill herself and not thinking deeply about how it may affect David, which wouldn’t be the most inaccurate portrayal of howsuicidal thoughtscan make a person irrational. Therefore, The Woman explains she is there to give Ramona “the strength” to kill herself, and that is why there is only one bullet left in David’s gun. This implies Ramona knew if there were multiple, she would kill the children, whereas now there is only enough for herself.The Woman shows how, if Ramona kills herself, her children will grow up to have positive futuresbecause she won’t be there to hold them back, as she can no longer care for them in her depression. Obviously, this isnot an objective point of view. It is Ramona’s own self-loathing, but that is what suicide is for many, and the final sequence becomes all the more heartbreaking because of it.
Ramona Chooses Not To Kill Herself in ‘The Woman in the Yard’
Ramona asks if she can say goodbye to her children, and The Woman wraps her arms around her, saying, “Of course.” Ramona pushes them out of the house, but Annie gives her the Mr. Penguin toy to keep her company. Ramona sits in the same chair in the attic that The Woman sat in the yard and puts the gun barrel to her chin, with The Woman impatiently pushing her to pull the trigger. However, at the last second, Ramona sees Mr. Penguin. The Woman’sshadow morphs back into Ramona’s, and she decides not to kill herself. Her kids return and Ramona tells them that, if the spectral figure returns: “We’ll be ready, I’ll be ready.”
The “we’ll be ready line” implies that, even though this demon was from her own subconscious, the children see it and battle it becausekeeping a family wholetakes everyone to support each other. You may think that Ramona’s decision was too easy, as she didn’t have to battle The Woman to prevent her death. However, to me, that is a far more accurate portrayal of the idea that, when it comes to suicide, the only person whose opinion matters on whether to kill themselves is them. We all need a reason to carry on in the worst times, and it can be as simple as wanting to see your children grow or having one more day with them. It may look easy, but it is anything but, andDeadwyler’s labored performance helps to reflect this internal battle where every step feels too difficultto keep going, but we can do it if we choose to.
