Lately, there has been a plenitude of dramas, thrillers, and comedies geared to scathingly dissect and poke at class warfare. Those belonging to lower ranks trying to usurp the table of influence or rather turn it entirely is excellent fodder for narratives if the makers adequately juice out all the necessary elements of suspicion and betrayal and stark revelation. The story is all about climbing the ladder in underhand, savvy fashion, deploying smarts and a shrew’s ambition that will balk at nothing.
The chaos and anarchy inherent in such narratives must be especially extracted to render a drama rich in bleak comedy. The turning of the tables is a wholly disruptive, challenging act. To deny the story due to tumult would undo the vast potential for shock and outrage, particularly when the powerful realize how deeply they have been fobbed by those they consider far beneath them on the rungs.
Therefore, dramas about class warfare are pegged to be ego checks that ensure no order stays intact for too long until the new order starts imitating the worst tendencies of what preceded it. Joseph Schuman and Austin Stark’s directorial “Coup!” chooses not to delve too deeply into the anger and bitterness that underpins such narratives, instead peppering doses of levity and cheery plotting.
Coup! (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The film takes us back to the 1918 influenza. Our memories of the pandemic are abundantly retriggered by the film’s visions of deserted places. Closures streak through the lands. Job precarity is as high as ever, but the well-heeled stay unaffected in their silos, confident they are fully sheltered from the depredations of the pandemic and all its ensuing crises, including food paucity.
The film opens with a death. It leads us to wonder if Floyd Monk (Peter Sarsgaard) was behind it. However, the narrative quickly chugs ahead with Floyd landing at the lavish mansion of Jay Horton (Billy Magnussen) and his family. He proclaims that he has come in as a cook for the family. He’s met with some cynicism by the senior most and most abidingly unquestioning servant of the Hortons, Mrs. McMurray ( Kristine Nielsen), but let in eventually owing to the urgency of the need.
The Hortons estate is on Edgar Island, which is at a distance from New York City. Jay believes that he’s safely tucked out of all conceivable danger. That doesn’t halt him from brandishing his indignation, adopting the pose of a righteous leftist journalist who claims to be an active member of protests when, in reality, he couldn’t be farther from restless discomforts. Jay is the son of a magnate. That’s how he has the luxurious estate. He vaunts to eventually pass it down to the impoverished. He cultivates this image of himself with unerring regularity. In fact, he has even had the house help convinced that he’s the fairest employer.
How does Floyd’s entry shift order in the Horton mansion?
Floyd’s entry ruffles the order of things in the mansion and the absolutely compliant servitude. He stages in them a fervor of rebelling, though they chafe at his striking up insurrectionary energy. The film encapsulates Floyd’s rather quick takeover, wholly and dramatically re-aligning the nature of authority and obeisance.
Jay’s fraudulence as a journalist is severely accentuated in the film. He pushes for valiant pieces that paint his anti-establishment spirit, which would find him a fan following. His wife, Julie ( Sarah Gadon), hopes to be a writer, but her dreams are mostly kept on the back burner. With swiftness, Floyd triggers into motion a series of massive changes in the house. He makes Jay agree to a doubling of the pay for all the ‘staff.’
Secondly, the staff are allowed to move from their edged-out quarters to the Horton mansion itself. Finally, Floyd manages to get Julie on the side of the staff. She starts to argue their case and attacks Jay for casting them aside and not believing in them. Jay finds himself pushed to the wall. Floyd makes it clear to him that he needs them. They are all alone in isolation. Floyd orchestrates a situation by making them more amenable to order, and Mrs. McMurray moves away on food poisoning. Her return is also staved off.
Slowly, provisions run out. But Jay insists on hunting. They have a vegetarian diet and must be opposed to any form of killing. That is what Jay prides himself on. Quickly, however, Jay realizes he is being stripped of all choice. Floyd’s influence is overbearing, redrawing the structure of authority in the house. He hunts for them but ensures Jay gets the credit so as to inflate his already excessive fake ego.
Meanwhile, the sheriff drops by to alert the family of a killer on the loose, a foggy photograph of Floyd apprehended to have killed. But, of course, nobody recognizes him. It is when Mrs McMurray hints that Floyd had spiked her food with what turns her allergic, which makes Jay suspicious. However, he has been shut out of the family by Floyd and forced to live in the staff quarters after he falls ill.
Coup! (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Did Floyd’s Sacrifice Ultimately Change Nothing?
The film’s frenzied, busy climactic stretches allude to a lot of developments and a return to the sorry state of affairs that previously existed. Floyd grows intimate with Julie. The sheriff informs them that the harbor is being reopened and that isolation measures will be lifted owing to the decrease in cases of infection. Jay shoots Floyd dead and brandishes himself as a hero in the newspapers. Heck, he is even given a prize for his bravery. The erroneous narratives spun by him persist, unchallenged and undeterred.
After Jay’s death, the staff resigns. New servants are hired, and the reliable Mrs. McMurray returns to take charge. The film closes with a dinner the family shares. Julie discovers Floyd didn’t kill who he was said to have. In fact, the tavern owner killed himself due to business being badly hit because of closures imposed by the government. Floyd sought revenge for his business partner’s death.
In a way, Floyd’s disruptions were entirely empty and devoid of any real repercussions. All the wife does is fleetingly process that Floyd was wholly innocent but unavoidable, and they can now merrily proceed with their lives, acting like nothing untoward had happened at all.
