Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri does, indeed, feature three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri. They have been placed at the roadside on the outskirts of town by Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), a middle-aged woman whose teenage daughter had been raped and murdered seven months earlier. The billboards read: ‘Raped While Dying’; ‘And Still No Arrests’; ‘How Come, Chief Willoughby?’ Mildred is grieving, in pain and a ball of fury. But not your regular, everyday ball of fury. She is a ball of fury of the most magnificent, unstoppable kind. If only she could go after every rapist from now on. I’d certainly sleep better in my bed.
Written, directed and produced by the Irish playwright Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths), the film recently won four awards at the Golden Globes: best film, best screenplay, best leading actress for McDormand, best supporting actor for Sam Rockwell. And this is satisfying, as it’s about a strong woman who won’t take shit from anybody (basically) rather than, say, some Brad blubbing about his status. (Boo hoo, Brad; boo hoo.) Plus, in its furious way, it’s also a hoot and a blast, which I never thought I’d be saying about a rape movie, if it is that. Hard to know what it is. Beyond ‘different’ and ‘wonderfully so’.
To the plot: Mildred works in the town’s giftshop and no one is keen on her billboards. Her husband, who has run off with a younger woman, isn’t keen on them. The local priest who pays a visit, stupidly — she rounds on him, in her magnificent, unstoppable fury — isn’t keen on them. Her son wants her to move on but she won’t — can’t. ‘Oh, great, we’re going the rape-dying route,’ he says, as they’re about to drive past them.
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