Compared to her, Willoughby is a saint. Mildred Hayes, played with cold rigidity and heartbreaking tragedy, is one of the best in McDormand’s filmography. He’s an older husband to his picture-perfect young wife Anne (at least 20 years his junior, over the top on the schmaltz here) and a doting dad to two lovely young daughters. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri plays right into that destructive narrative by dressing up suicide as a brave act of altruistic love. The moment they get to Idaho and Mildred lays eyes on the guy, she’ll become convinced he’s the one because it adds up in her head. THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI is a darkly comic drama from Academy Award nominee Martin McDonagh (In Bruges). After months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes (Academy Award winner Frances McDormand) makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at William Willoughby (Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson), the town's revered chief of police. Parents Guide, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Chris Makrozahopoulos . Yet his supposed act of kindness was one of the most aggressive and violent scenes in a very aggressive and violent movie. Frances McDormand as Mildred Hayes in 'Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri" (CNN)A woman is found murdered by the side of a road. His nemesis is Frances McDormand’s Mildred Hayes, a scorching performance as a mother engulfed with grief and driven by rage at her daughter’s killer, the police, her violent ex-husband and very possibly herself. To anyone who has seen the Oscar-nominated movie Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the year-old's story will sound familiar. And while Mildred Hayes and her daughter might not have actually existed, their story is one that is far too familiar in our day and age. | After months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes (Academy Award winner Frances McDormand) makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at William Willoughby (Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson), the town's revered chief of police. Welcome Matthew and thanks for your comment. It's been already seven months since her daughter's hideous murder, and the divorced mother, Mildred Hayes, is still grieving, refusing to come to terms with her loss. There is time given to an idyllic family picnic; of the girls left to play a fun game set up by their dad beside a lake while their parents sneak off to make love (one last time as it turns out). The mother, Mildred Hayes, believes that the local police did nothing to find the killer, so she rents three billboards in order to challenge them to search deeper. But one thing we haven't been talking about is a key plot point involving the ghastly rape and murder of Angela (Kathryn Newton), teenage daughter of Mildred Hayes (McDormand). It made me feel sick. The reading of the three letters after his death all portray him as noble. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. No one is spared in this brave crusade, not even the ailing police chief, Willoughby, as Mildred's bold black-on-red statements demand answers and the culprit's head on a platter. ( Log Out /  With no arrests after seven months, Mildred puts up three roadside signs to goad Ebbing police chief into action. I went to see Martin McDonagh’s latest in the best cinema in Dublin (The Lighthouse) with some good company who are also good critics.