A powerful movie that demands attention
The one who loves you will wait for you always no matter how time and the world change.
Synopsis
HARPER (11) loses her single father becoming an orphan.
The story begins as Harper follows MARY (30), the head of the Community Home, back to the orphanage after the funeral of her father. Harper mourns the loss of the only parent she has ever known, sitting at a window lost in thought. Adjusting to the reality that she’s going to spend the rest of her childhood there, Mary tells her that they found her aunt, a woman Harper has never met.
The next day, Mary takes Harper to meet ETTA (34), a lonely spinster, living alone on a dilapidated farm. Harper’s aunt is shocked by Harper’s sudden arrival and upon learning of her brother’s death. Without a strong connection between the brother and sister, Etta seems icily calm. When Mary asks Etta to give Harper a home, Etta refuses to take her. Unwanted, Harper is forced to go back to the Community Home.
Harper comes to realize that she has been discarded, an unloved nobody and that doesn’t fit in. At her low point she meets a stray dog outside the Community Home and befriends him. Harper names him Max and feeds him with her meals daily. The news of “Harper’s return” reaches another orphan, JENNY (14), “the Boss”, who begins to take an interest in Harper.
When Harper accidentally occupies Jenny’s spot in the bathroom, Jenny decides to serve notice about her position in the community. Jenny’s cronies BETH (13) and ASHLEY (13) start to bully Harper and Harper sinks into despair, unable to see an ending to her misery. However, fortune has another chapter for Harper when Etta arrives to claim Harper after all. Not sure if she wants to go with her icy Aunt Etta at first, she eventually agrees when faced with life at the Orphanage. Harper and Max follow Etta out of the Community Home.
Harper officially begins her life with Etta, a life that consists of a brutal load of chores and no friends except Max. One day while cleaning Harper finds an old guitar with her father and Etta’s name on it. Finding a small piece of joy, but Etta’s demands seem to grow without end. When it becomes unbearable Harper flees the farm heading into the forest and the unknown.
While escaping Harper meets a fawn and its mother in the forest, seeing their love and sweetness causes an epiphany inside Harper. She heads back to the farm; finishes her endless chores more resolute than ever. At night, Harper writes a letter to her father in heaven. Etta slowly thaws to Harper, teaching her farming skills like driving a tractor, putting in fencing, harvesting vegetables and more. As time passes the relationship between Harper and Etta grows and both learn to accept the other. However, one topic remains verboten. Every time Harper tries to speak to Etta about her father, Etta shuts it down.
Settling into her new life, Harper meets Lucas (14), a boy who comes to buy eggs, who befriends her. Etta continues teaching Harper and decides it’s time to learn how to ride a horse. Although she falls, again and again, she gets up and never gives up which makes Etta’s acceptance complete. As the two grow closer Harper discovers that Etta takes “medicine” at night, but Etta won't let her know what it is. One night, Etta is drunk, and she talks about painful memories of her childhood. How her father beat her, and how she never forgave her brother (Harper’s father) when he ran away from home and left her behind. Fueled by booze, Etta turns her anger on Harper, kicking Harper out of the house.
Later, as she sleeps in the barn, Max barks loudly and won’t stop. Harper follows him back to the house and realizes something has happened. She finds Etta lying unconscious with blood around her on the ground. Harper calls 911, but as Etta awakens she thinks Harper asked the cops to arrest her, she hurts Harper in the chaos. The cops show up and take Etta to the rehab center leaving Harper alone on the farm.
Harper looks after the farm all by herself delivering the vegetables, cleaning, working the stable, grooming the animals and finds her way. Meanwhile Etta works hard to quit drinking and vows to change her ways when one day, ISABELLA shows up at the rehab center to see Etta. Isabella, Harper’s mother who abandoned her at birth, now demands that Harper come live with her. When Etta refuses, all hell breaks loose.
Isabella sends a man in black over to the farm to retrieve Harper, and frames Etta for hurting Harper. Since Isabella is a rich Southern Belle, everyone believes her and Etta knows she must get out of the rehab center as soon as possible. Fighting to get back to Harper, Etta knows she needs money and sells a horse, one of Harper’s favorites. When Harper realizes her horse is sold, she catches up with the buyer and begs him to return her horse. The buyer, heartbroken by the story of Harper, Harper gets her horse and confronts Etta where she discovers Etta's debt about her mother.
The two work together to keep Harper on the farm, selling jewelry, vegetables and anything they can. Harper discovers a music contest with a $1,200 grand prize and enters it to win her freedom. Just as things look up, Lucas finds Harper to tell her he is moving out of the town, leaving her friendless once again.
Her only silver lining – Harper actually wins the contest and the twelve hundred dollars!
Unbeknownst to both Harper and Etta, Isabella has won a court victory and their celebration is short lived when LUCY, Isabella’s secretary, comes to find Etta and notifies her that Isabella has won custody of Harper and will pick up her up the following week. Etta tells Harper the news and Harper is heartbroken. That night Harper runs away with Max.
Harper and Max live together in the forest for a few days, while Etta and others search for them. As their supplies run low, they are confronted by a pack of wolves. Outnumbered, with nowhere to go, they are saved as Etta arrives with a gun saving them. Harper and Etta hug and cry, Etta promises Harper that they’ll see each other.
Harper moves into Isabella’s house, Isabella arranges everything for Harper, classes, clothes and even a strict diet. Harper attends classes each day, her entire life controlled. She feels no joy, no love and no warmth in this house or from her mother. Isabella treats Harper like merchandise, not a human. Isabella cuts off all communication between Harper and Etta, isolating her daughter.
After an emotional fight with Isabella, Harper locks herself in her room, crying and scratching at her jail. Eventually her spirit broken Harper becomes sick and has given up all hope when she hears a bark. Max’s voice from outside the house, as she looks out the window she sees Etta and Max. Harper bolts out of the room and when Isabella tries to stop her, she knocks Isabella to the ground; jumps into Etta’s car, and hits the road. The car drives for a long time; Etta suddenly stops the car in the middle of the road. She holds Harper’s hands and hugs her tightly, tears run out from both of their eyes.
There will be different people that you will meet and come to love in your lifetime, but there will only be one that you love the most. The one who loves you will wait for you always no matter how time and the world change. You will know when you meet them for they will feel like home.
《Harper》
Writer/Director’s Statement
By Kate Bohan
During the 2020 pandemic, as I was home taking care of my young daughter, I felt inspired to write this story (Harper), a very personal story with themes from my life. To help me realize the best possible story I was lucky enough to work with a talented writer, Qiu Minjia, to complete the script, all while overseeing the post-release of my first film. It was a busy and challenging year.
"Harper" tells the story of a sudden disaster that changes the life of the 11-year-old heroine. Harper embarks on a harrowing journey in search for a place she can truly call “home,” helping her alcoholic aunt Etta to embrace family and recover from her addiction along the way. Just when she thinks she’s found some peace with Etta on her farm, Harper’s life is turned upside down once again at the sudden appearance of her estranged mother Isabella - the materialistic and judgmental woman who had abandoned her at birth.
The themes of “Harper" are very real to me as I drew inspiration from my own childhood and life story, letting my private experiences and memories help me breathe life into the film.
This is a touching story with tears in laughter and laughter in tears, positing that above all else, love is the strongest armor; that the most difficult times will eventually end, and hope will carry you through. Without our past experiences, we would be simple clay with no meaning, but when our experiences are taken with our memories they forge us into a future worth stepping into.
I plunged into writing this story with all my heart during the pandemic in early 2020. For me it is a story that stirs my soul and shakes me to the core. I hope that it does the same for you.
Every project that I work on is like planting a seed, with the hope that one day it will bear fruit. What will it become?
The one who loves you will wait for you always no matter how time and the world change.
Kate Bohan 2021