The Help

The Help is a 2011 comedy-drama film based on the novel by the same name. It stars Emma Stone as a journalist who writes a controversial book based on research of her relationships with maids in the early 1960s in the South, and Viola Davis as one of the maids.
== Plot ==
In 1963, narrator Aibileen Clark is an African-American domestic worker in Jackson, Mississippi. She works for socialite Elizabeth Leefolt, raising her two-year-old daughter Mae Mobley, whom Elizabeth emotionally neglects. Aibileen's best friend, Minny Jackson, works for Mrs. Walters and her manipulative daughter Hilly Holbrook, who leads the women's socialite group.
Elizabeth and Hilly's mutual friend Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is an aspiring writer and unmarried, recent graduate of Ole Miss who has been rejected by a New York publishing house. After securing a local job writing a housekeeping column, she grows increasingly aware of the city's systemic racism and the demeaning treatment of maids, including Hilly's insistence on installing separate bathrooms, a practice she wants enshrined in building code. Skeeter's mother, Charlotte, informs her that the family's maid, Constantine, quit, but Skeeter does not believe her and decides to write a book of interviews with the maids to shed light on their experiences.
Minny is soon fired by Hilly for defiantly using an indoor bathroom during a tornado that causes multiple fatalities. Hilly vindictively renders Minny unemployable by telling other housewives that Minny has stolen from her, forcing her teenage daughter to quit school and take a job as a maid. Aibileen overhears that Celia Foote, a housewife ostracized by the socialites, seeks a maid. Celia, encumbered by a large, inherited house in Madison and limited cooking skills, gratefully hires Minny without telling her husband Johnny, Hilly's former love interest. Celia suffers a miscarriage, and reveals to Minny that she was engaged to Johnny after becoming pregnant, then miscarried. Celia and Minny discuss Hilly's jealousy of Celia and unrequited love for Johnny. Celia cares for a black eye Minny's husband has given her.
Aibileen agrees to Skeeter's interview after a dynamic sermon from her pastor, as does Minny. Elaine Stein, Skeeter's editor at Harper & Row, tells her that she needs more than two maids' stories to write a book. She needs at least a dozen but Minny explains that even after talking to all the maids they know but out of fear of violent retribution or job loss prevents other maids from coming forward. Aibileen tells Skeeter about her struggle to cope with the death of her only son, who died of negligent care by his foreman after an on-the-job accident. Skeeter slow-walks a piece in the Junior League newsletter on the "separate but equal" bathrooms for Hilly, instead creating a misprint that embarrasses her.
Hilly refuses to advance money to her new maid, Yule May Davis, who asks for $75 so she can send her twin sons to Tougaloo College. Yule May discovers a lost ring under a sofa, pawns it, and is violently arrested after Hilly reports her. This incident and the assassination of Medgar Evers inspire more maids to tell Skeeter their stories. The other maids are at Aibileen's house and are coming forward with their stories. This includes one maid whose employer bought a piece of property to help her get to work due to a neighbor with a shot gun, and one who could not leave because of her employer owning her.
Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny fear the maids' stories will be recognized. Minny reveals the "terrible awful" as a form of insurance: after her termination, Minny brought Hilly her famous chocolate pie but explains – after Hilly had finished two slices – that she had baked her own excrement into it; Hilly later forced her mother into a nursing home for laughing at her during the incident.
Skeeter confronts her mother about Constantine's departure. Charlotte confesses that during a Daughters of America luncheon at her home, she fired Constantine because Constantine's daughter Rachel disobeyed her order to enter the house through the kitchen. Rachel subsequently moved a heartbroken Constantine to Chicago, where she later died. Learning this, Skeeter bursts into tears and runs from the room.
"The Help" is published anonymously and read widely by black and white communities of Jackson, many people are divided among reactions. Skeeter divides the proceeds among the maids, who receive the equivalent of several weeks' pay each, with "more to come." Skeeter's boyfriend, Stuart, deduces she has written the book and breaks up with her because it is disruptive. Minny reveals the "terrible awful" to Celia, who writes a check to a Junior League cause, made out to "Two Slice Hilly". Increasingly panicked, Hilly threatens to sue Skeeter for libel, but Skeeter points out the Hilly has no proof and reminds Hilly that she would have to publicly admit to the pie story which Hilly refuses. Charlotte intervenes, showing that she knows about the "terrible awful", and orders Hilly off the property. Skeeter and her mother reconcile.
Johnny tells Minny he knows she has been working at his house, and that she has permanent job security because of her compassion for Celia and excellent cooking. The promise of future employment makes it possible for Minny and her children to leave her abusive husband. Members of Aibileen's church honor her for her leadership in the publication, and town members sign books for Skeeter and Aibileen. Minny and Aibileen encourage Skeeter to take a job offer in New York because she has burned bridges by publishing the book.
Seeking revenge, Hilly pressures Elizabeth to fire Aibileen, claiming she has stolen silverware. Aibileen stands up to Hilly, who storms out in tears, and Elizabeth orders Aibileen to leave. Aibileen bids farewell to Mae, pleading with Elizabeth to love her daughter; seeing her daughter's tearful response to "Aibie's" departure, Elizabeth cries. Walking away from the house, Aibileen reflects on the events, retires from domestic work and plans her future as a writer.
==Cast==
*Emma Stone as Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a college graduate and aspiring writer.
*Lila Rogers as Young Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan
*Viola Davis as Aibileen Clark
*Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly Holbrook, the town's racist and snooty ringleader.
*Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson
*Jessica Chastain as Celia Foote, Minny's naive employer and Johnny's wife.
*Ahna O'Reilly as Elizabeth Leefolt, Aibileen's employer.
*Allison Janney as Charlotte Phelan, Skeeter's mother.
*Anna Camp as Jolene French
*Chris Lowell as Stuart Whitworth, Skeeter's boyfriend and a senator's son.
*Cicely Tyson as Constantine Bates
*Mike Vogel as Johnny Foote, Hilly's ex-boyfriend and Celia's husband.
*Sissy Spacek as Mrs. Walters, Hilly's mother.
*Brian Kerwin as Robert Phelan, Skeeter's father.
*Leslie Jordan as Mr. Blackly
*Mary Steenburgen as Elain Stein
*Nelsan Ellis as Henry, the waiter
*David Oyelowo as Preacher Green
*Dana Ivey as Grace Higgenbottom
==Videos==
	
	
Category:2011 films
Category:Films
Category:Historical films
Category:History films
Category:Films based on novels
Category:DreamWorks films
Category:DreamWorks Pictures films
Category:Reliance Entertainment films
Category:1492 Pictures films
Category:Touchstone Pictures films
Category:Films distributed by The Walt Disney Company
Category:Films distributed by Disney
Category:Rated PG-13
Category:Films starring Emma Stone
Category:Films starring Bryce Dallas Howard
Category:Comedy
Category:Drama
Category:Romance
Category:Academy Award nominated films
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