The results of broken families
- Martyn Foster
- May 9
- 12 min read
Misdirected energy and chasing what you wish you (still) had.
This week we move on to movie #2 of my “Movie Month of May”, exploring the above themes using “Catch Me If You Can”, the 2002 hit film about conman Frank William Abagnale Jr., starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks and Christopher Walken.
If you haven’t read my previous week’s entry on existential themes raised in “Passengers”, please do so here.
I’ll start with some general points before moving into the film. I don’t think it’s too difficult for us to ponder the effects of broken homes and families on the individuals involved, particularly the children. Some people will spend the rest of life trying to fix what was broken, yearning for the ideal (or what was/could have been), acting in a manner so to avoid it ever happening to them, and/or being in denial/forgetting through drugs or alcohol or meaningless sex and other vices e.g. crime (as we’ll see in the movie).
A broken home doesn’t provide the right structure nor guidance to channel a child’s talents into a more positive and mature avenue. Such a thing can degenerate into misdirected energy. A lifetime of trying to make up for what was taken and/or an outlet for unprocessed emotions and trauma. I’m not saying this happens to everyone in this situation, but to use an analogy, “not everyone who’s been abused turns into an abuser, but everyone who’s an abuser was once abused.” It’s much easier to help the child than correct the adult.
At the beginning of the film, it almost paints an idyllic family situation for the Abagnales. It’s mid 60’s New York, they live in a reasonably nice house, the father, Frank Sr. (Walken), is inducted as a life member in a rotary club, and met his wife, Paula (Nathalie Baye) in France during the war where he won the medal of honour. Frank Jr. (DiCaprio) is a teenager and seems to be enjoying the positive experiences, stories and love shared between the three of them, encapsulated by the scene of the mother and father dancing in the living room at Christmas to Judy Garland’s “Embraceable You”. However, any idea of it being paradise is immediately cut short.
Frank’s father is being investigated for tax fraud by the IRS, he has to sell the car and the house (which upsets the mother). They move into a much smaller apartment and Frank has to move schools. Frank’s mother starts having an affair with his father’s friend from the rotary club (whom she later marries) and cue divorce filing. Frank panics at having to choose between his mother or father to live with and runs out of the house, never to return, acting as the catalyst for the chain of events to come. The beginning of this film really does set up a lot of what I plan to discuss so forgive me if we’re a bit plot-heavy at the moment.
It's clearly obvious that Frank inherits a number of traits and tricks from his father, the ability to lie and act confidently/charmingly, playing the game, ruses, being a bit of a conman (also see: tax fraud). “Appearances can be deceiving” is a strong theme throughout the movie as Frank watches a number of times his father’s ability to manipulate and predict the actions of others. He has been exposed to it from a young age. Even when Frank changes schools, he begins to impersonate a substitute French teacher (rather than attending classes) and convincingly fools everyone for a short period of time, but long enough to hold a parent-teacher conference and plan a field trip. It was after Frank’s parents were brought in to have a word with the principal, that two telling things happen; their reactions. Frank’s mother is disappointed but in a dismissive/care factor zero kind of way, and him and his father just laugh it off together. Even brushing aside the lack of care or seriousness in his schooling, I find it important to point this out because this, for the most part, remains sentimentally true of the relationship between each parent; why he’s closer and has a stronger connection to his father.
As I mentioned before, the lack of stability, certainty, structure and guidance in Frank’s life leads him into this situation he now finds himself in. Rather than choosing which parent to live with and continue school, he bails on it all and goes out on his own. Frank begins forging cheques out of necessity to live, but then it becomes more of a game to him…“thrill of the chase” between him and FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Hanks). There wasn’t really any care or thought given to those negatively affected by his deeds which leads me to believe he really wasn’t serious about it/it was just a bit of fun while it lasted i.e. he did it because he could (and as a substitute) not out of any real malevolence. He was just a misguided kid really without any real parental guidance or love, so he acted out and chased it constantly. That’s why he was so desperately trying to get his parents back together, and every time he’d meet up with his father, he’d talk about how he was going “fix” his dad’s problems and “get it all back.”
Essentially, Frank was always chasing what he once had, now lost, forever playing catchup, but it’d never be enough. Frank poured himself into illegal pursuits as a substitute, so much so, it becomes compulsive/addictive behaviour. He knew it’s wrong but he couldn’t stop. He asks his father to ask him to stop but even his father says he can’t stop and that they’re never going to catch him. Eventually, he asks Hanratty to stop chasing him and wants to call a truce because he’s found someone and wants to settle down which further reinforces the idea that it was a substitute until he found something real and meaningful, which is what he was really chasing all along. He was living a fraudulent life, in more ways than one, and the substitute pathway he had forged became quite hollow, as they tend to do. As I postulated before, it is misdirected energy, a lifetime of stealing to make up for what was robbed from him.
If I may bring it back a bit, as this film likes to go back and forth with time, not long after he runs away from home, Frank begins to dabble in conning people and soon decides the best way to do that is to become a pilot. If you look at all the jobs he impersonated – pilot, doctor, lawyer – they are all the jobs kids say they want to do when they grow up to get praise from parents/adults. Now, I might be reading something into that, but maybe not, as he does (continually) write to his father with joy that he’s “become” an airline pilot, even if not really. These jobs also had a lot of social status/respect, high income, and given his intellect/smarts and ability to research/learn, he could pass convincingly enough to not raise suspicion as well. Frank’s motives are still heavily tied to getting his parents back together which he, throughout the entire movie, believes he can fix. Nothing sums this up better than the emotional lunch scene with his father.
Frank buys his father a new Cadillac and hands the keys over the table to him. This is to primarily go round to mum’s house pick her up for joy ride in another attempt to rekindle their love and reunite them. His father refuses; 1) out of pride, 2) out of practicality with the IRS still harassing him. He reiterates to his son the “two mice fell into a bucket of cream” story he used when he was inducted as a life member at the start of the film, reminding his son that he is a survivor, he’ll manage, not to worry about him etc. Frank essentially lies to his dad, acts like he really is a pilot. His dad is still blown away by his gesture and gets emotional while proposing a toast to his son. At the end of the scene he whispers to his son “the rest of us really are suckers” before winking/smiling at him while sitting back down – does his dad know he’s really not a pilot? I don’t know. With conmen, it takes one to know one.
Blazing a hedonistic trail is usually a common way of trying to cope with a traumatic childhood, plus a lot of what Frank is portrayed doing does fall in line with common male fantasies of fancy clothes, fancy cars and fancy women. Frank starts to gain notoriety – papers label him the “Skyway man” – so he impersonates James Bond. Every man’s fantasy. Suits, cars, women. There is a scene with Jennifer Garner’s character that contrasts well with the appeal of dishonest life compared to honest life (Agent Hanratty at the laundromat having white clothes mixed with colours). Frank is still incredibly juvenile, lacking maturity, indulging in the fruits of his criminal labour in a strong hedonic manner, partially to help forget about his broken family.
It's at this point where we have the first phone call on Christmas Eve to Hanratty. Frank is honest with him tells him exactly where he is to come have a chat (yet he lies to everyone else). He apologises for making a fool out of him, says he feels sorry. Hanratty doesn’t believe him and responds with, “you didn’t call just to apologise, you called because you have no one else to call” and laughs at him, as Frank hangs up abruptly. The truth is too harsh to bare for Frank, he just shuts down the emotion. It’s about this time that we start to see an almost de facto parental/guardian figure that Hanratty eventually becomes for Frank. Frank rings the FBI agent that’s chasing him? He’s reaching out for someone, in an almost sad and tragic kind of way. He doesn’t want this fake life to continue. And it’s Christmas time, the most family period of the year, and it reminds him he's not with his family and they aren’t altogether happily like in the beginning of the film.
The sad thing is that Frank ended up caring more for his parents than they did for him, and in a way he was trying to make up for the loss/absence. His mum essentially didn’t care for him once he ran away, she tried to buy him off when she was having an affair (and yet he still cared more about her quitting smoking in that very scene). Only when the Feds came knocking at her new big fancy house with her new partner did she feign interest/concern. She even suggested that she’ll pay them back (clearly thinking it was some minor misdemeanour, “kids being kids” and utterly oblivious to her son’s life with absolutely no care for the severity of the situation – highlighted by her dumbfounded face when Hanratty said “…so far $1.3m”). Even when Frank gets extradited back to the states, he escapes custody, he goes to his mother’s house just to see her and the image of a happy family he once had.
With Frank’s father, the FBI did try him, but he naturally tries to convince them Frank’s over in Vietnam, but Hanratty doesn’t buy it, and Frank Sr. eventually says “I’d never give up my son”, I guess showing in his own way that he cared to some extent or maybe just his disdain for government authorities. Frank ends up ditching the party life (with the FBI getting closer and closer) and switches to being a doctor in another state where he meets a nurse, Brenda Strong (Amy Adams) who he eventually plans to marry and settle down with. This is where the conflict/struggle really gets highlighted between the life Frank’s living and the life he wants to live, but can’t.
There’s a scene where Frank finally drops the façade, but Brenda’s father, Roger (Martin Sheen), doesn’t believe him that he’s a nobody who just loves his daughter. It’s ironic really, that when Frank’s honest no one believes him, yet he convincingly lies to everyone most of the time with not a single doubt. He was being real for the first time after playing a fraud for years. He gives up the girl to avoid being caught, but I think it really emotionally wounded him and was the beginning of the end. The scene where Brenda’s parents are sharing a lovely moment while washing up and grooving to “Embraceable You” by Judy Garland (same song used earlier in similar moment with his parents) beautifully contrasts where he was, where he’s been, and what he desires (for both himself and his parents still). True love. You can see the joy he experiences yearning for the ideal, but the pain in his eyes sets in as he remembers, fighting back tears.
This then cuts to the final scene he has with his father, who’s in a bar, ironically with the same song playing. Frank brings a wedding invitation with plane tickets and talks about getting his dad a new nice suit and picking up mum to come to his wedding. His dad is still wrapped up in his own life and concerns with the IRS wanting to wipe him out that he’s barely present, shutting down any positivity from his son’s wedding and attempts to get them back together. It is here that he learns that his mum is officially with his dad’s former club friend, which absolutely floors Frank. Frank is still in the mindset of getting it all back as if the IRS stole his parent’s marriage as well and he is going to fix it all. He’s still a kid giddy with naïve hope not realising the futility of his actions. He doesn’t know how to handle his mum being with his dad’s friend from the club – “why would she do that to you?” – and what leads is that he runs out of the bar mirroring the earlier runaway moment from panic. Frank’s world is falling apart…again.
With Frank’s world crumbling and his reasons in tatters we have the second call at Christmas Eve to Hanratty. Frank wants it to be over, explains that he’s getting married, “please leave me alone. Stop chasing me!”, but he doesn’t really understand the gravity of his situation. Frank nearly gets away overseas, but Hanratty tracks him down on Christmas Eve in the little French town his mother was from (Montrichard) – it seems Frank was continually chasing ties to family. Once again, Frank doesn’t take it initially seriously, he’s almost deranged/mad at this point, jokes with Hanratty, playing games, thinking he’s full of shit and lying to him (ironic really). Until the agent swears on daughter that they’re going to kill him the moment he walks out door. Puts cuffs on and then as there is initially no one there outside, he feels conned by Hanratty, even congratulates him on it…but then every man and his dog turn up, reality sets in, begins to be scared/worried – as a still young and naïve man would. Hanratty spends next couple of years trying to get Frank back to the states. In a weird way, he kind of cares for him.
On flight back to America, Carl tells Frank his father is dead falling down some stairs at a train station, after telling Frank he could call him. There’s a flashback of mother/father dance scene from start of movie. Frank gets emotional, ends up escaping the plane and legs it to his mother’s place, although not to do anything just sit outside in the snow at night. Spots his mother. His would be half-sister comes to window they exchange a short convo “where’s your mommy?” and she points to his mum. Frank is visibly upset as police arrive to take him away. He just wants to go – “get me in the car” – I think at this point he feels there is nothing worth salvaging. His father is dead, and his mother is dead to him.
I’ll briefly wrap up it here, as this has gone on much longer than I anticipated and I thank you for your commitment.
The ending is a sentence to 12 years prison – solitary for entire sentence for severity of crimes – reinforcing how lonely his life is. Carl visits Frank in prison, brings comic books; it’s almost like de facto father-son relationship. By chance Frank looks over cheques of Carl’s current case and helps him. Carl then returns to give him a job in FBI helping banking fraud (took him 4 years to convince them). Pair strike up unlikely bond as de facto parental figure. Frank claims he has a good job delivering mail in prison (emotionless and childlike humour as if the man has nothing to live for and has consigned himself to his fate), but takes up job. Eventually Frank has enough and begins to take off as a pilot again, although Carl catches him at the terminal. Carl basically says to Frank that he will be back because no one is chasing him, and Carl lets him go free will and says see you on Monday, basically, whereas Frank still thinks he can just go back to his old life and it won’t end badly – “sometimes it’s easier living the lie”, says Hanratty. Frank doesn’t turn up, Carl begins to worry has he really gone, but he ultimately does show up – it’s almost like Carl knew he needed to get something out his system. He came back and worked with FBI to arrest many other fraudster and make banking more secure.
Ironically, the real life person the movie is based upon, apparently it was recently uncovered that most of this story (from his memoir) was in itself a lie. A conman with a story about being a conman…hard to get more ironic. I’m not here to judge the legitimacy of the story. I’ve just always felt the story was a good example of how broken homes and families can lead children down a dramatically different, possibly dangerous/destructive, destitute and/or disturbed life than they otherwise would have had. The long-lasting effects that parents can have on kids and how some people can spend their lives, even self-sabotaging, putting themselves at risk, to try and right the wrongs not even committed by them. It’s amazing what the right love and care can do for people and how its absence is felt and manifested.
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