Louis returns home surprisingly and suddenly leaves after family members give monologues of varying lengths in which they sometimes repeat themselves or violate proper grammar.

[5] The characters' struggle to communicate in which they sometimes attempt to restate what they meant is a theme in the play and is illustrated by a scene in which Suzanne criticizes two family members for shaking hands like strangers.

[5] The Canadian director Xavier Dolan said that when he originally read the play, he felt lost and cited its style and the aggressive nature of the characters.

He later reread it and said, "One day, I don't know what it was, I pulled it off my shelf and suddenly understood and appreciated this weird and verbose writing style.

Dolan described the extensive work required to adapt the stage play for film:[7] I tried to keep the idiosyncrasies and the singularity of Lagarce's vernacular as much as I could....