Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Film / CookiesFortune

Go To

1[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cookies_fortune_9332.jpg]]
2
3A 1999 Creator/RobertAltman film, ''Cookie's Fortune'' takes place in the small town of [[SweetHomeAlabama Holly Springs, Mississippi]]. It's a simple, quiet place with [[GoodOlBoy peaceful, kind residents]].
4
5On the eve of Easter Sunday, pushy community theater director Camille Dixon (Creator/GlennClose) and her shy sister Cora (Creator/JulianneMoore) are shocked to find that their Aunt [[CoolOldLady Jewel Mae "Cookie" Orcutt]] (Creator/PatriciaNeal) committed suicide. Terrified how this will reflect on the family name, Camille destroys Cookie's suicide note and convinces Cora to help her make it look like a robbery.
6
7Once the police are on the scene, their only suspect is Willis Richland (Creator/CharlesSDutton), a well-liked local man who also happened to be Cookie's best friend. Everyone is convinced of Willis's innocence, including Cora's estranged daughter Emma (Creator/LivTyler), who has recently returned to town. A visiting investigator takes over the case and is determined to dig up some of the town's best-kept secrets. As Easter Sunday arrives and Camille's play opens, the truth comes out in ways that no one could have ever imagined.
8
9----
10!! This film provides examples of:
11
12* ABNegative: The other bloodtype found at the crime scene. It ends up [[spoiler:incriminating Camille for Cookie's murder. The police find out that Camille is AB Negative ''and'' a hemophiliac.]]
13* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Camille, Emma, Cora.
14* BunnyEarsLawyer: The town has only one attorney and he's a little off. He reads [[spoiler:Cookie's will]] while still wearing his costume from Camille's play.
15* ChekhovsGun:
16** Cookie's "C" necklace.
17** The loose door on the gun cabinet.
18** The cut on [[spoiler:Camille's]] finger.
19* CluelessDeputy: Jason Brown.
20* CryingWolf: [[spoiler:Nobody believes Camille when she tells the truth about Cookie's suicide. Especially after she ''ate'' the suicide note which was the one thing that could prove her innocence.]]
21* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler:Cora]] gets revenge on Camille.
22* DramaticDrop: When Cookie's death is discovered.
23* EatTheEvidence: Camille eats Cookie's suicide note to make her death look like murder.
24* FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: Emma finds out her mother is not Cora, but her "aunt" Camille.
25* GoryDiscretionShot: Cookie places a pillow over her face before shooting herself in the head. We see a little blood spatter on the wall and the feathers float in the air.
26* TheHecateSisters: Camille is the Crone, Cora is the Mother, and Emma is the Madien
27* HereditarySuicide: In the beginning of the film Camille discovers that her aunt Jewel Mae or "Cookie" has committed suicide, believing that [[SuicideIsShameful "only crazy people commit suicide"]] she tries to cover it up and frame a black man for murder. Only for her cover-up attempts to implicate ''her'' as the murderer instead, ending with her hanging herself in jail.
28* IronicEcho: "Only ''crazy'' people commit suicide."
29* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:Camille swallowed Cookie's suicide note, which was the one piece of evidence that could have exonerated her. Also, her browbeating turned Cora into such a good actress that everyone believes her instead of Camille.]]
30* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler:Emma finds out Willis is actually her relative, which no one suspected as he's black while she's white. He was left Cookie's entire estate, being the nephew of her late husband.]]
31* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Emma discovers that her dreaded Aunt Camille is actually her mother. The police dig up old records that show that Camille nearly died after giving birth...on the same day that Emma was born. Cora provided a blood transfusion that saved Camille's life. Apparently, Camille had moved in with Cora and her husband Donny. One day, Donny disappeared and Camille and Cora took an "extended vacation". When they came back, ''Cora'' had a newborn baby.]]
32* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Emma and her boyfriend Jason, who's a cop, frequently sneak into empty offices in the police station to have sex.
33%%* ManipulativeBitch: Camille. Especially to Cora.
34* MistakenForMurderer: Willis, somewhat. Practically no one believes he killed Cookie. [[spoiler: Camille much more so. Despite having told the truth about what happened, the police don't believe her because she ate the suicide note.]]
35* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]]:
36--> '''Emma''': What is ''wrong'' with people?!
37* NotNowKiddo: A local boy who witnessed Camille disposing of some evidence is hushed by his father when he tries to explain this. [[spoiler: At least initially, later that day his father does hear him out and quickly goes to see Sheriff Boyle, while apologizing for having initially dismissed the kid]].
38* PillowSilencer: Cookie lies down in bed and shoots herself through a pillow.
39* QuirkyTown: The fictionalized version of the real town of Holly Springs, Mississippi presented here is of a Southern town full of EccentricTownsfolk who do things like put on church pageants or cut work to go fishing.
40* RunningGag: When Otis is questioning Willis' friends about his alibi, and ask when they saw him, most of them say it was "around 1:30." An exasperated Otis wonders how Willis could have been in so many places all at the same time.
41* SchoolPlay: Camille directs a local church production of ''Theatre/{{Salome}}''. It has the same aesthetic as a school production.
42* TheSheriff: Sheriff Lester Boyle, a plump southerner who comes across as a fair and considerate investigator who doesn't believe that Willis is guilty ("Because I've fished with him!") and is willing to put his foot down when anyone pesters him about it.
43* ShrinkingViolet: Cora. She's probably been under Camille's thumb her entire life. [[spoiler: Though Cora finally stands up to Camille once and for all in the end of the movie.]]
44%%* SuicideIsShameful: Camille's belief.
45%%* SuicideNotMurder
46* SmallTownTyrant: Camille. She even puts her name on the bill for the local theatre production of ''Salome'' as the ''"and"'' alongside Creator/OscarWilde.
47* SwallowTheKey: Camille eats Cookie's suicide note.
48* {{Tuckerization}}: It doesn't seem like a coincidence that Cora and Emma both have the last name Duvall, since you can easily picture Creator/ShelleyDuvall playing either role if Robert Altman had made this film back in TheSeventies.
49* UndignifiedDeath: Emma was always told her father Donny died while doing mission work in Africa. It turns out he died in an industrial accident at a button factory in Alabama.
50-->'''Jack''': Seems the hole-poker machine broke loose and fell on him. They said he had 273 holes in him before they could get it off him.
51%%* UpperClassTwit: Camille is one.
52* VisualPun: When Camille finds out [[spoiler:Cookie's will]] was kept in a cookie jar, she searches in the jar to find out if there was anything else in there. When Lester and the other officers from the sheriff's department come into the house, they discover Camille with her hand in the cookie jar.
53* [[ManChild Woman Child]]: Cora is an adult but seems to have the mental age of a shy teenager. It's implied that Camille is so verbally abusive toward her that it's stunted her emotional growth.

Top