By Olamide Ajala
How does a woman take care of a man for 18 years? Here in Africa, such a situation would raise a lot of eyebrows, not because there is anything wrong with family taking care of each other, but because the idea of a lazy, lackadaisical man is almost unthinkable.
Interestingly, this was the basis of the movie, Acrimony. Written and directed by Tyler Perry, the movie is a tale of anger, betrayal, disappointment and love. Here are the details you need to know:
Melinda met Robert in college as a Mechanical Engineering student and they became lovers. Her mum passed away shortly after she met Robert and he was a shoulder to lean on. Her mum left some money behind, some of which she used to buy Robert a car.
Personally, I considered the gesture quite extreme for people who were not in an exclusive relationship. And I believe this was why Robert relaxed a bit in that indulgent relationship.
The Story Continues…
Robert cheated on Melinda with Diana Wells. Melinda was so angry and furious that she rammed Robert’s house with her car. She was rushed to the hospital where she was told that she had lost her womb. Shortly after this, she reconciled with Robert and he proposed to her with a plastic ring and they got married even though her sisters (June and Brenda) did not support her.
The trauma began immediately after they settled down. Melinda carried the brunt of the financial responsibility. Immediately Robert graduated she was excited as she expected that he would get a good job to support them as a family. However, Robert attended interviews with great companies but was unable to get the job because he was a felon and spent two years in prison. Their marriage was in shambles as they never had any happy moments, they always argued. Melinda had to take on two jobs while Robert was trying to sell his innovative battery design.
Robert convinced Melinda into mortgaging her mother’s house, to enable him to build a prototype of his innovative battery design which he planned to sell to a Venture Capitalist Prescott. One day he met Diana Wells who happened to be an assistant to Prescott. He invited her for coffee and they talked about his idea. Diana arranges for Robert to meet with Prescott and he was offered $800,000 for the design but he refused as he was not willing to sell his idea completely, he wanted to retain control and license the technology to them.
Robert lacked great communication skills. He should have informed Melinda or her sisters.
In order to raise some money, Melinda’s sisters invited Robert to their delivery company to deliver stuff to a client. But Robert was called to show his idea to Prescott on the same day. He took the delivery van to present his idea and made them disappoint their customers and miss a major deal. Robert lacked great communication skills. He should have informed Melinda or her sisters. She went ahead and filed for a divorce. Robert begged her genuinely to give him another chance, promising to take care of her in the future. However, Melinda insisted on getting a divorce as she was frustrated and tired of taking care of the bills for 18 years. It took her too long to put her foot on the ground. She should have set the tone from the beginning of their relationship/marriage. The way you lay your bed is the way you lie on it. Well, the divorce was granted.
A New Chapter
Through Diana ‘s influence, Prescott offers Robert a multi-million-dollar deal which allowed him to keep intellectual ownership of his battery technology. At this point, Melinda had chased him out of the house, he was at a very low point and slept in the slum. This was the beginning of a new chapter for Robert, his life turned around. He visited Melinda at work to thank her and beg her, she refused to reconcile. Robert gave her $10million dollars and bought back her mother’s home.
One day, Melinda surprised Robert in his new Penthouse apartment trying to come back, but she received the shock of her life when Diana came out from one of the rooms and introduced herself as his fiancé. She was ‘bitter and angry and regretted that she left Robert. She felt she deserved to be the one to enjoy his money since she toiled with him for 18 years.
If you ask me, love is not measured by who has stayed with you the longest, but who was with you at your lowest point. Besides, she asked for the divorce so why was she so angry?
Love is not measured by who has stayed with you the longest, but who was with you at your lowest point.
Filled with rage, Melinda started drinking, smoking and trolling them on Instagram. She even went to the store where Diana had ordered her wedding dress and burnt it. She became obsessed. All she wanted was Robert. And if she could not have him, then no one else could. She was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Her mental state became worse when she learnt that Diana was pregnant. Robert and Diana got married and Melinda’s family and friends prevented her from attending. The couple left for their honeymoon cruise, but Melinda tracked them and shot Robert. She instructed all the boat crew members to jump out. She attempted shooting Diana as well, but Robert protected her. As Diana looked for a way out, Melinda attempted to hit Robert with an axe, but her leg got caught in the anchor chain, pulling her off the boat where she eventually drowned.
Lessons learned…
In this complex situation, the debate goes to ask: ‘who is at fault?’ who has your support or empathy? For me, the situation is neither all black or all white. For instance. Melinda loved Robert too much, yet she allowed her sisters whose marriages were not smooth to convince her about leaving Robert. However, she was the one who had to bear the consequences of her decision. Always think of who will bear the impact of the decisions you make.
On the other hand, Robert should have got a menial job to at least put food on the table. He was too lackadaisical. He was not considerate about how his wife felt taking on two jobs.
Besides their relationship started off on the premise of one person footing the bill, and their communication skills were not grounded. They never had discussions about their finances, emotions and Melinda did not tell Robert how she felt about him not taking a job.
The situation ended very, unfortunately, and even though it is just a movie, it bears a lot of weight on the choices we make in our lives and relationships. My hope is that ultimately, beyond the debates, people can pick one or two lessons from the plot and apply to their lives.
