I Want You to Have Richard

We meet Lulu (30s), a hard-living hairdresser, ripping along a Montana highway. She arrives at the home of Myrna (70s), a leathery and uncompromising older woman in need of a haircut. With no friends or family, Myrna’s gotten by just fine. More than fine. Until her stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis. Lulu has no idea what her new client is going through. She arrives at Myrna’s home late on bill payments and in need of cash. After a haphazard haircut, and an allergic run-in with Myrna’s cat, Lulu does what she always does — begins to pillage the place. But something’s off. While digging through Myrna’s medicine cabinet, Lulu finds a bottle of secobarbital on the bathroom sink. Rummaging through valuables in Myrna’s bedroom, Lulu spots a Do-Not-Resuscitate order above Myrna’s bed. As she pockets a wad of Myrna’s cash from her bedside table, she’s caught off-guard by a silent Myrna standing in the doorway. Myrna doesn’t care that she’s being robbed. Instead, she encourages Lulu to take more. Unnerved, Lulu slowly realizes that Myrna wants to die. Over a bottle of Woodbridge, Myrna explains that she needs two things: a nice haircut, and someone to take her beloved cat, Richard. Lulu is allergic to cats. She’s also allergic to going out of her way to help others given that no one’s ever helped her. What starts as a workday interaction between a hairdresser and her client becomes Myrna’s last conversation and the first time Lulu must decide whether to let someone else (or their cat) into her life.