I've been thinking a lot about this story and I want to suggest a new structure.

The story should open with memories of his father constructed in a montage. You've already read some of it. The film opens with a shot of Nick's modern house (to contrast his father's cottage, and to suggest non-linearity), centred on the photo frame of his Father. The opening dialogue opens with voiceover '

I used to think my father was a good man. He taught me that a good life needed to be built, not brought)'. So he built a lot. He built a family. He built a home. He built a high tolerance to alcohol. I remember how he used to be. There's something to be said about a man like that. I remember the day he died.

Memories are strung together over the score 'She remembers' By Max Ritcher. Frank playing in the park with his children, holding a baby, proposing to his wife, and shots of the empty workshop. The last shot of the sequence is an empty hospital hallway. The climax of the song (the song builds in tempo) is intercut with moments of love and affection between Nick (as a child) and Frank.

We then enter the meat of the story which is the monologue.

The linear sequence of events in the film is:

Events leading up to the death of his Father > death of his Father > enters the abandoned workshop to build the pine box >wife finds him in a weak state in the workshop> Presents monologue to his wife in moment of weakness > Moment of catharsis > goes to funeral to present speech

The events in the film are mashed together. I want to turn your fantastic monologue into a monologue presented to his wife, not a funeral audience. To me, it doesn't make sense to reveal so much to such a large audience. It would be a significantly more intimate story if he was trying to seek clarity from his demons to somebody who he trusts. We're going to assert that he has kept his issues with his Father secret from his wife and this is his release. Nick begins to talk about his father, starting from the line 'We were never really close', continuing the dialogue mostly unedited until the line ' A true pine Box'. The camera will be focused on Nick for the first few minutes without any flashbacks. There will be no score except their breathing. The moment will be intensely intimate. From the line 'It was nice, you know' the song 'Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten' will play. The beginning church bells in the song trigger the same flashback shots of the hospital and the workshop as the opening sequence. This is the beginning of him coming to terms with his issues. From then on, we begin to see flashbacks of these events. Multiple timelines will be cut together to build emotional tension. We get rid of the 'Well he looked dead' part and make it so this part of his speech is his father's death and dying words. The music will build at the 3-4 minute part and this will be the peak of the catharsis and his moment of anagnorsis. Lighting is flashing outside as he jams the nails into the pine box. We cut this between moments of his childhood, and the his wife embracing him (in the present timeline). The highest notes of the song will coincide with the line 'A true pine box'.

Silence.

The film ends with him standing up on the pews and presenting the speech:

'Father John asked me to say a few words. The only thing i ever did for my father was build him his casket. But. (beat) My father was a good man. We did a lot together. We built a home. We built a family. We built some memories. My father believed that a good life needed to be built, not brought. Now i do too' (Feel free to add to this)

We return to the beginning of the film. We Intercut with the same shots as the beginning sequence but they are now between Nick and his own family. The score is familiar. The last shot of the film is the same shot as the beginning except the frame is gone. This structure creates a subtext where the audience questions the reasons why the photo is removed from the wall on a deeper level than the literal explanation that he took it to the funeral. We wonder if he has truly moved on from his father and found catharsis.

Changing the context of the monologue makes the final speech at the funeral that much more poignant. We now know the significance of the pine box. His speech has meaning. It's not the same dialogue that is presented at the beginning. The beginning dialogue implies that 'he used to think his father was a good man' and that 'he taught me that the good life..' where as the final dialogue says 'my father WAS a good man, he BELIEVED that a good life'. He has come to seemingly come to terms with his abandonment of his father.

In your initial script, you were using the audience as an emotional cue for what the audience should be feeling. We should not be using a audience in the film to dictate the emotions of the viewer. We should be allowing the audience (the viewer) to explore their own emotions and be triggered by multiple layers of time blended together. We should share in Nick's catharsis. I'd love you to re-write the monologue to be more concise (there is a lot of repeated lines) and more poignant (as if it is between two people sharing their darkest moments). We need to show that the act of him speaking allows him to seek clarity. The last page of your original monologue is Devine and poignant. We don't need to change that.

Let me know what you think.