"Grace Is Gone": A widower mourns the loss of his wife in combat, must tell his daughters

A small film from The Weinstein Company and Plum Pictures, “Grace Is Gone” (2007, written and directed by James C. Strouse. “Everyman” actor John Cusack plays Stanley Phillips, whose wife Grace is deployed in Iraq. One day two Army officers appear at his door and inform him of her death in combat. After a period of intense grief, Stanley takes his two daughters (Heidi and Dawn) on a road trip to Florida, and resists telling his girls about the tragedy. One of the girls wants to go to a place that seems to be Cypress Gardens in Florida (which I visited as a boy). Some involvement with an anti-war brother (Allesandro Nivola) almost leads to Heidi’s finding out. Eventually he tells them on a Gulf beach that their mother is gone, and there follows a church eulogy from Heidi.

The movie is very intimate, low keyed in tone, and focuses on emotional attachments.

The film could be compared to Mark Friedman’s “Home of the Brave” (MGM), also in 2007.