MOVIE · 2006

Running with Scissors

ComedyDrama116 min

When his parents’ marriage falls apart, teenager Augusten Burroughs is handed over to his mother’s unorthodox psychiatrist and absorbed into a household where chaos passes for normal. In this new home, basic boundaries disappear: the doctor exerts a strange hold over everyone, the children fend for themselves, and Augusten grows up amid neglect, manipulation, and absurd routines. As his mother spirals further into instability, he tries to make sense of a life split between her demands and the bizarre freedom of the Finch family. Joseph Cross and Annette Bening anchor a coming-of-age story that turns a memoir of damage, survival, and warped family life into dark comedy.