The discussion of how unconditional love is expressed in lifelong friendships often takes a back seat compared to romantic partnerships. Nevertheless, the film The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat takes a close look at friendships and shows how healing sisterhood can be.
It centers on three characters, Barbara Jean (Sanaa Lathan), Clarice (Uzo Aduba) and Odette (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), affectionately known as “The Supremes.” The film explores a world where friendship is the saving grace for three young girls entering adulthood while grappling with themes of grief, acceptance and love.
“I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I think it’s important because we’re talking about it. I thought I had high blood pressure,” Ellis-Taylor said during an interview with the cast of Blavity’s Shadow and Act.
She delivers a brilliant portrayal of what it means to be a “strong friend” through her character Odette, who simply doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone.
“I have high blood pressure and I was thinking about my cousins and my friends and the circle that I’m in, which includes my family members and my friends. … We all have high blood pressure and we’re all black women,” she continued. “I know it’s genetic. I know it’s DNA, cultural DNA, actually cultural-genetic stuff, but I also think it’s because of the stuff and the burden that we carry. We do it by choice; we choose to do it. We enjoy doing it, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t weigh on us. The great thing about this Supremes story and this love story between these three women is what Clarice and Barbara Jean do for Odette – and hopefully we do for each other – is they pull her by the coattails and allow her to be vulnerable.”
In a separate conversation, Kyanna Simone, who plays a younger version of Odette, spoke about the beauty of being able to choose the friends you want to surround yourself with and reflected on how those relationships become a chosen family.
“Odette is the kind of person who sees someone like Barbara Jean and says, ‘I know you may not know this kind of energy, but I’m here to make sure you’re OK, and we’re friends now,'” Simone said. “I’ve personally had this experience before, when I was 5 or 6. I remember having a friend in elementary school, and she just came up to me and shoved me, and I was like, ‘Why did you just do that?’ And they said, ‘We’re best friends now,’ and to this day, she and I are best friends. And it was very unconventional, but I feel like I chose to be her friend.”
She added: “You’re born into your family, and whether you have a good relationship with your family depends on the passage of time. But your friends, your sisters, your Supremes, that’s a relationship that you can nurture in a different way, and I think that’s just really beautifully told throughout the film.”
Lathan’s character, Barbara Jean, has been plagued by trauma and setbacks since early childhood, but when she meets Clarice and Odette, everything changes for the better. Even as life continues to throw lemons at this illustrious one, she always seems to find solace in her girls.
“Clarice and Odette are her angels,” Lathan said. “I don’t think she would have stayed alive without them. There are these friends that you meet immediately and it’s like you recognize each other from another life. It was this kind of soul mate connection and I think the story is so beautiful. They’re all incredibly different and they accept each other wholeheartedly, unconditionally and through all the times, through all the ups and downs. I mean, it’s a great love story. I loved playing Barbara Jean and I loved being in a movie that celebrates that kind of friendship because it’s something real that people have.”
Tati Gabrielle, who plays the younger Barbara Jean in the film, repeated the Love and Basketball Actor feelings.
“They saved her life, and I feel like I’m in Barbara Jean’s shoes, coming out of a situation where it seems like no one is there, not even the people who are supposed to be looking out for you, like your family, who you think, ‘Oh no, they’re going to be there’ … but to have people come who chose her, advocate for her,” Gabrielle said. “I think that opened up a whole new world for Barbara Jean, and understanding that I can choose my family, I can choose the people I have around me, I can build myself up in an environment – it doesn’t always have to be bad. It doesn’t have to bring me down. For Barbara Jean, it’s her community that has become everything to her; that’s been her saving grace in life.”
The third Colonel, Clarice, represents the ideals of the time in which the film is set (the 1960s and 1990s), when women often had to choose between career and family and experienced regret if they chose the latter.
“We really are superwomen. And to have friends who support you through that, it takes a village, and I think Clarice embodies that. And as the film progresses, when we get to the ’90s, you see how it affected her,” said Abigail Achiri, who plays the younger Clarice in the film.
“I love the redemption,” she added. “She takes her power back and decides, you know what? I made that choice. And even though I stand by my decision now this season, I see where I could have done things differently, but it’s not too late. Because she has friends, she stays at Odette’s parents’ house. And the friendships will last forever, and you’ll always have that support.”
The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, a film by Searchlight Pictures, is now available to stream on Hulu.
Watch the full interviews with Lathan, Ellis-Taylor, Simone, Gabrielle and Achiri, as well as Mekhi Phifer and Russell Hornsby, above.
