Bastard Out of Carolina (film) - Plot

Plot

In the 1950s rural South Carolina, pregnant, 15 year-old Anney Boatwright is asleep in the backseat of her brother-in-law, Travis’, Chevy when the car crashes into a pickup truck. She flies through the windshield and remains unconscious when she gives birth to her daughter whom her family names Ruth (after her sister) and Anne (after herself). However the baby is known throughout the family as “Bone” since Ruth’s Uncle Earl proclaimed that she “looked no bigger than a knuckle bone” when she was born.

Problems arise when filling out her birth certificate since no one is really sure of her biological father’s last name. Despite their attempts to smudge a name on the certificate, the hospital quickly realizes the truth and stamps “ILLEGITIMATE” onto Bone's birth certificate, proclaiming her a bastard. Anney is furious that the state put a label on her and her daughter and vows to Bone that she will always stick by her side and defend her.

When Bone is about 2 years old, Anney and Ruth attempt to go to the courthouse and fix Bone’s birth certificate. Ruth lies and says that with all the excitement surrounding the new baby and the worry that Anney was going to die, they lost track of her husband. Despite their attempts, the man stamps “NOT CERTIFIED” on the bottom of Bone’s birth certificate.

As Bone gets older, Anney vows to her that she is going to find them a kind, strong man to take care of them. She eventually marries and becomes pregnant by Lyle Parsons, a wonderfully kind man who treats Bone as his own daughter. However, shortly after the birth of their daughter, Reese, Lyle is killed in a car accident. His family blames Anney, telling her that if he hadn’t married her white trash family and needed to work two jobs he wouldn’t have been on the road the day he died.

Four years later, Anney is working as a waitress when her brother, Earl, introduces her to his co-worker, Glen Waddell, who is immediately smitten with her. While Glen appears shy and kind on the surface, he suffers from severe anger issues, often manifesting themselves in fights at work. During this time, the courthouse burns down and Earl steals Bone’s birth certificate which the family takes great pleasure in burning.

Anney’s mother warns her against going out with Glen, saying he appears to be possessive and angry however Anney doesn’t see it, saying its typical for all men to have a temper. So when Glen proposes Anney happily agrees and quickly becomes pregnant. Glen is convinced that the baby will be a boy, whom he hopes to name Glen Jr. The night Anney goes into labor Glen waits in the car with Bone and Reese in the backseat.

After Reese falls asleep, Glen calls her up front with him where he molests her. Bone is saddened and confused, unknowing what to make of the situation. Anney does give birth to Glen’s awaited baby boy, however he is stillborn and the doctor tells her that she will no longer be able to have children. After their son’s funeral, Glen proclaims they are moving to a new home away from Anney’s family. Her family objects but Anney is so saddened she agrees.

After their move, Glen catches Bone looking at a picture of her and Lyle. Glen tells Bone that he is her daddy now and asks the girls to call him so. While Reese immediately calls him daddy, Bone only grudgingly does. Angry, Glen rips up Bone’s picture which she tearfully takes the pieces to and buries. Soon after that, Glen loses his job. He turns to his father for help, which he refuses to give him.

After that, the family constantly moves, never staying in the same house more than eight months. Glen becomes increasingly violent, screaming at Anney and secretly molesting Bone. Glen continuously struggles with obtaining and keeping a job, leaving no money for food. When Bone accidentally drops a pitcher of iced tea at Glen’s father’s house, his father snaps at her and attempts to hit Glen who roughly shoves his father away saying, “You can’t hurt me anymore old man” signifying that he had been physically abused as a child. A few days later, Glen yells at Bone for running around outside.

When Bone walks away mocking him he chases her into the house and beats her. He later tells Anney that Bone called him a bastard and was running around destroying things. Bone tries to be careful from then on, however, her mother goes back to work leaving her alone with Glen who finds any reason to beat Bone. Ashamed, thinking she's bad, Bone hides her bruises from everyone, including her mother.

One day Anney notices Bone is walking funny, almost limping. When her mother brings her to the hospital, the doctor angrily informs her that Bone’s tailbone is broken and that she displays evidence of physical abuse. Her mother takes her and Reese to her sister, Alma’s to stay. However, as soon as Bone heals, Anney moves back in with Glen.

One day, Anney asks Bone if she would like to go stay with her Aunt Ruth and keep her company since she is extremely sick. Ruth tells Bone that Glen doesn’t hate her, he's just jealous of the attention Anney gives her. Bone tells Ruth she aspires to be a gospel singer someday which she encourages. Despite their closeness, Bone can’t bring herself to tell her aunt about her sexual abuse.

Soon after Bone arrives home from her Aunt’s house, Anney receives word that she died, devastating her. The day of Ruth’s funeral, Glen calls for Bone but she doesn’t respond. Angry, he brings Bone into the bathroom and beats her. At the funeral, Bone’s uncle Earl lets her have a little alcohol to toast her aunt and she quickly becomes tipsy. Her Aunt Raylene finds her in the bathroom on the toilet. When she tries to help her up, she discovers the bruises and calls Bone’s uncles who beat Glen unconscious.

Bone moves in with her Uncle Earl and Aunt Raylene. When Bone expresses to her Aunt how angry she is that everyone in town looks down on her and her family Raylene tells her that everyone determines their own life and to think long and hard about who she is truly angry at. As they’re talking, her Uncle Earl arrives saying her Aunt Alma has gone berserk.

When they arrive at her house, Alma is on the porch screaming and crying because her husband left her and their sons after he refused to have sex with her. Again, Bone experiences the pain that husbands can inflict on their families. Anney and Reese decide to stay at Alma’s until things settle down. Anney asks Bone to stay at Alma’s with her but she refuses. When Anney asks Bone to come back and live with her, Bone again refuses to come as long as Glen still lives with her.

Her days at her aunt’s are long and happy until Glen shows up at Raylene’s house looking for Anney while Raylene is gone. He asks Bone to get him a glass of iced tea and follows her into the house. Glen tells her that Anney said she refuses to come home until Bone agrees to come home.

He demands Bone to tell her mother it's ok to come home. Bone refuses to come home explaining that she told her mother she could go home without her. Bone tells Glen to leave and threatens to tell Anney about everything he did to her. Out of anger, Glen beats and rapes the girl but is caught by Anney, who smashes a bottle over his head and carries Bone out of the house to her car.

Glen stumbles out of the house after Anney screaming his apologies to Anney and saying he can’t live without her. He leans against the car door and repeatedly smashes his head against it until she strokes his head in forgiveness. Bone is taken to the hospital by her Aunt Raylene. When the cops attempt to question her about who brutalized her, she still refuses to tell and calls out for her Momma, who is nowhere to be found.

Bone continues to live with her Aunt Raylene, who tries her best to help Bone through her ordeal. She tells her that her mother truly does love her and that she’ll have to live with what she did for the rest of her life and that eventually Bone will forgive her.

One night Anney comes to visit Bone and explains that she never thought Bone would get hurt and apologizes for what happened. She tells Bone she loves her, but that she also loves Glen too and couldn’t leave him. She leaves Bone with a copy of her birth certificate with the words “CERTIFIED” stamped on it. Bone cries in part of the sadness of her mother’s sacrifice and for the freedom she has finally achieved.

Bone's final words voiced from narrator Laura Dern: "Who had Momma been? What'd she wanted to be, or do before I was born? Once I was born, her hopes turned, and I climbed up her life like a flower reaching for the sun. Her life had folded into mine. Who would I be when I was 15, 20, 30? Would I be as strong as she had been? As hungry for love? As desperate, determined and ashamed? I wouldn't know, that I was already who I was gonna be. Someone like her, like my Momma. A Boatwright. A bastard. A bastard outta Carolina."