Seagrass isn’t your typical horror movie; I’d say it’s more haunting in other ways if you ask me. It would make you see things in a way that we often overlook. We run from the truth because we fear facing it, worried that what we find might not be good enough. Here, a woman named Judith comes to a couples retreat with her husband Steve and her daughters Emmy and Stephanie because, after losing her mother, she feels disconnected from her husband. She starts questioning everything about their relationship, wondering if she really loves him or if they’re just together to fulfill her responsibilities as a mother and a wife. Is their relationship worth fighting for? – Let’s find out.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Does Judith Feel Close To Pat?
At the beginning of Seagrass, we met a family of four who seemed like your typical, normal mixed-race family enjoying a road trip together. At first, it seemed like they were going on a holiday. However, as time passed, we started to understand that they were actually on a couples retreat. Judith had recently lost her mother five months ago and felt like she never really got to know her. This loss made her question everything about her relationship with her husband, Steve. Were they truly happy? During the retreat, they met another couple, Pat and Carol, and they immediately became close to them. Judith felt particularly drawn to Pat, believing he would understand her better because they shared the same heritage—they were both Japanese. When the retreat supervisor praised Pat and Carol’s relationship, Judith felt somewhat uneasy. Perhaps she was jealous or insecure about their own relationship? She started comparing their relationship with her own, even though Steve thought they were different people and they should focus on themselves instead of comparing themselves to others. Judith believed Pat understood her because of their shared cultural background. She admired Pat’s vulnerability and emotional openness, traits she felt Steve lacked.
Steve dismissed these qualities as trivial, but Judith wished he could be more like Pat. Talking to Carol, Judith acknowledged she had a perfect family—two beautiful daughters and a husband who tried to work on their relationship. So, why was she unhappy? Did fulfilling her responsibilities as a wife and mother mean she didn’t love Steve, or was she just in love with the idea of being a “perfect couple” like others? When Pat talked about his travels, Judith expressed her desire to travel with her family, but Steve wasn’t much of a traveler. When Steve opposed the idea, Judith felt he was competing with Pat. Maybe she was reading too much into it, or perhaps she wanted Steve to be more like Pat—understanding, respectful, and connected to her culture and heritage. But were these truths just the beginning? The retreat was near the sea, with a nearby cave rumored to summon the souls of dead family members if you gazed into its dark depths and thought about them. Maybe Emmy, the younger daughter, accidentally summoned her grandmother’s soul during play. Could Judith’s mother be guiding her daughter to face the truth about her desires and her relationship so she didn’t end up miserable like her—out of love, miserable in a relationship, just in it to fulfill responsibilities? Perhaps she was holding a mirror up to Judith, forcing her to question everything and find her own answers.
Was Judith A Good Mother?
But it’s not only about Judith or Steve; it’s also about how Stephanie and Emmy try to cope with it all. Because they’re mixed-race children, they often get bullied for their unique facial features. Their friends often question why they look different and where they “actually” belong, because they don’t look “normal.” You can see how both Stephanie and Emmy struggle with this idea of beauty. As Stephanie is a growing teenager, she thinks that other girls around her are prettier and funnier, and she doesn’t feel like she can measure up. So, she makes up stories and tries to joke about her heritage and unique facial features, believing it will help her make friends. She even tries to act like a grownup and dance like an adult in front of boys their age to feel attractive. Even Emmy, though much younger, feels the same pressure of being “unique.” She stares at her eyes in the mirror, stretches them, and wonders why she’s not normal like others. This is the haunting reality of our society.
Judith feels like she’s a bad mother; she has never been able to make her children confident enough to be comfortable in their own skin. She also feels like she’s a bad daughter who never really asked her mother about herself. It’s true that in Asian households, we often don’t have heart-to-heart conversations with our parents, but she misses her mother terribly and holds onto the blanket made by her mother more than usual, thinking about what it would have been like to know her better. When Stephanie doesn’t like the fact that her mother cuddles her little sister more than her, she doesn’t like it, and Judith fires back at her instead of understanding her feelings. But immediately, she feels bad about it. She feels like she’s not a good mother, not a good daughter, and even a failed wife. She starts questioning her worth.
How Does Steve Feel About Judith?
Even if we try to run away from the haunting truth, sometimes we have to surrender to it, right? And so does Judith. We see that the more they try to make their relationship work, the more distant they seem to be from each other. Steve starts to feel that Judith is closer to Pat than to her own husband and becomes jealous, confronting Pat about it in front of everyone. He tries to find fault in everything Pat does, and if Pat tries to correct Steve in any way, he gets even angrier. Instead of taking her husband’s side, Judith seems to be taking Pat’s side, which obviously doesn’t help the situation! Steve also starts questioning their relationship, and the next day, when he goes to the retreat alone and the supervisor tells him to think about his wife, how he imagines her, and how he feels about her, he ends up crying, realizing he can’t picture her or imagine her in any way. Maybe he has fallen out of love?
During Seagrass‘ ending, we see the island was on rain and Emmy hid inside the cave, where her grandmother’s soul might have been summoned. She takes shelter there, and Stephanie, being the older sister, swims out to the sea and retrieves her, saving her from the cave. As Judith also follows them to the cave, she feels like there might actually be someone—maybe it was her mother’s ghost after all. Maybe she’s been watching over them all along; maybe she protected Emmy from the storm. As the Seagrass ends, we see that, finally, they both accept the truth. Judith confesses that she has never truly loved Steve—just the idea of being the perfect couple and having a perfect family. But does all this really require true love? She feels like maybe having a perfect family just requires some adjustments and fulfilling responsibilities. That’s all, but being in love needs more than that. Steve feels the same way. He says nothing, just hugs her, and feels like they both have surrendered to the haunting truth after all.
