To belittle and insult Greg Kinnear's character into not raising the rent? She wants him to honor the father's wishes while also stating that the father was embarrassed by him. I guess people act unreasonably in these types of disputes all of the time, but you would think out of self-preservation she wouldn't have been so rude and arrogant towards the person who holds the cards.
shareI also thought this was strange, so much so as I thought for a moment that maybe she was actually the father's lover and there was going to be some reveal about her kid actually being his brother.
shareI kept expecting Brian to interrupt her with, "Were you f---ing?" when she went on about how ose she and Max were."
shareI think they wanted us not to hate Kinnear's character... and also how about Ehle's experience in conflict resolution? How did she even help?
shareIn these situations the family always comes along and acts superior, discounting the life of the deceased or "dearly departed," unable to acknowledge that their family member had deeper relationships, tighter bonds and more personal history with others outside the family.
Leonor's strategy was to shame the children primarily because she didn't really have any other options - if indeed she had been so close to Max then why didn't he leave her the store? It was Max who failed to provide for her. But additionally it was her civil form of revenge during the legal proceedings. They would get the store and she would take whatever she could from them, however small. She could make them a little less satisfied with themselves.