Pie in the sky

 
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Warning: Contains plot spoilers

One of a number of unplanned pregnancy movies released in 2007, Waitress stands out from the higher profile Knocked Up and Juno for its darker subject matter and unique technique of narrating the central character’s inner feelings through pie recipes. The story is a bittersweet comedy with a sugary ending, and revolves around Jenna Hunterson (Keri Russell), a waitress in a pie diner, whose secret plans to leave her abusive husband (Jeremy Sisto) are disrupted when she discovers that she is pregnant. Inventing a new pie in her head, ‘I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby Pie’ or ‘Bad Baby Pie’, is not enough to make Jenna feel better about her situation, and her waitress friends are not able to provide much comfort either. However, when she goes for a check up and meets the handsome Dr Pomatter (Nathan Fillion), Jenna begins to find something to make her smile in her otherwise desperate situation. However, Jenna knows that her affair with the married doctor is wrong, and, with the baby on its way, she still sees no way to escape her problems.

From the start of the film, it is clear that Jenna is not happy. While she enjoys her job making and serving pies, she is desperate to get away from her husband and make a new start in life. Jenna’s circumstances are extreme, with a husband who is so jealous, needy and controlling that it seems likely he has mental health problems. However, Jenna is not the only character in the film to be searching for happiness and a better life. One of her friends, Becky (Cheryl Hines), wants to forget her responsibilities to her invalid husband and experience a little ‘adventure’ elsewhere. Jenna’s other close friend, Dawn (Adrienne Shelly), struggles with self-esteem and pins her hopes on finding the perfect man. The only people in Waitress who don’t appear to be actively striving for happiness are Joe (Andy Griffith), the curmudgeonly owner of the pie diner, who believes that he is too old to change, and Cal (Lew Temple), the diner manager, who is resigned to making the best of what he has: ‘I don’t expect much. I don’t give much. I don’t get much. I generally enjoy whatever comes up. That’s my truth . . . I’m happy enough.’ Most of us, however, would like to change some aspects of our situations and can probably relate to Jenna and her friends in their desire to escape their misery and lead happy lives. The ways in which the characters in Waitress try to achieve this happiness may also be familiar to us.

Some people may adopt Cal’s approach, stop striving to improve their situation and instead learn to be content with what they have. However, the majority of people dream of finding true happiness, rather than being simply ‘happy enough’. It is great to learn contentment in all situations, but it is also important to work for change where something is wrong. Certainly for Jenna, to simply make the best of her lot was not going to lead to happiness, though her situation isn’t quite as bad as it might be. Despite her distinct lack of a social life, Jenna is lucky enough to have two close friends. However, while they appear to genuinely care about Jenna, Becky and Dawn have problems of their own to occupy them, and they don’t have the resources to give Jenna much practical help. So while her friendships do make Jenna’s life more bearable, they are not able to make her truly happy.

Jenna is determined to create a happier life for herself. At the beginning of the film she intends to do this by acquiring enough money to get away from her husband. Her plan is to win a local pie baking contest and use the prize money to escape. However, as it turns out, neither her prodigious talent nor her unwavering determination are enough to win Jenna freedom. When her plans are foiled, Jenna finds a different source of potential happiness in Dr Pomatter. For a while, her affair with him enables her to smile, no matter what is going on around her. However, these feelings cannot provide a permanent solution, as Jenna’s internal pie-inventing narrative makes clear: ‘I Can’t Have No Affair Because it’s Wrong and I Don’t Want Earl to Kill Me Pie. Vanilla Custard with banana.’ It seems that Jenna live in the Bible Belt of America and has absorbed the values prevalent in the area, although maybe not the core beliefs. In any case, her principles mean that she can never be truly happy whilst committing adultery, but doing the right thing and breaking the relationship doesn’t make Jenna particularly happy either.

As the film concludes, Jenna finally acquires the necessary resources to escape from Earl. However, rather than money buying her happiness, she has found the courage to reject her husband and commit to a new life. Money is an added bonus rather than the impetus for this decision. Nor is her relationship with Dr Pomatter what causes this change. While her feelings for him don’t disappear simply because they are wrong, it is very clear that their relationship will never be the life-changing force Jenna requires. ‘I’m not a happy woman’, she tells Dr Pomatter, ‘And I don’t want you to save me.’ ‘I don’t want to save you,’ is his honest but not particularly chivalrous reply. In the end, it is the previously unwanted child that brings about Jenna’s transformation and opens up the possibility of a happy future for her. All her previous attempts at happiness have been motivated by the understandable but self-centred desire to improve her own life. However, once her baby is born she experiences a selfless, ‘unconditional kind of love’[i] for the child. It is this compassion and love for her child which finally enables Jenna to break free and enjoy a fairytale happily ever after.

Waitress explores the nature of genuine happiness and genuine love. The film suggests that real happiness comes when we are not simply trying to go through life avoiding pain and difficulties. True happiness, Jenna discovers, comes when we have a sense of purpose and a direction to guide us in life. It is also often connected with the experience of genuine love. We are presented with an obvious example of false and destructive love in the character of Earl. His neediness, jealousy, desire to control, and sense of ownership over Jenna are repulsive. Yet they are extreme examples of aspects which may be present in our own relationships more commonly than we might like to admit. Jenna’s relationship with Dr. Pomatter is another example of a misconception about love. They do not really love each other, and are only using the relationship to gratify their own desires. This, too, is often a characteristic of the way we relate to those close to us. However, what little we see of Jenna’s relationship with her daughter, shows us a picture of what true love ought to look like. This is a love which focuses on the well-being and happiness of the other person, is prepared to make sacrifices, and effects transformations. It is a love which is not dependent on anything the other person says or does, but is given freely, unconditionally, and whole-heartedly. It is a love which we could all use more of in our relationships, and which will remind Christians of the love of their Father God, shown through the sacrifice of his Son for our sake (1 John 3:16).

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