Nocturnal AnimalsThe memories we bury cast the long shadows where despair is harvested. Nocturnal Animals is a psychological drama and crime thriller, and tells the story of the ennui-ridden Susan Morrow (Amy Adams), an owner of an upscale, yet provocative, art gallery in Los Angeles, who lives a life of affluent dissatisfaction with her handsome (yet unfaithful) husband, Hutton (Armie Hammer). One day, Susan receives an as-of-yet unpublished manuscript from her first husband, Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal). The story is a violent crime story that greatly affects Susan, and forces her to reevaluate her life and the life she had with Edward.
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Nocturnal Animals is a story within a story, since the plot of Edward's novel comprises a significant portion of the film. (Coincidentally, Nocturnal Animals was adapted from a novel titled "Tony and Susan" by Austin Wright.) As Susan visualizes the plot of the novel--also titled "Nocturnal Animals", suggested to be a passive-aggressive jab at Susan by Edward--the thoughts that fill her sleepless nights bring her back to the halcyon days when Susan and Edward were fresh out of college, their romance blossoming. Nearly twenty years later, Susan's life appears to have all the glamour of a life well spent, but none of the comforts. Susan's world--from the party she attends early on in the film to her job at the art gallery and museum--is more artificial than Edward's story. Her friends and co-workers wear outfits that look more like costumes in some kind of sci-fi flick, and the decor of her office and home is like the set of a movie. This heightened sense of artificiality is a metaphor for the hollowness of her existence, emphasized through her flashbacks to the early days with Edward. Considering Nocturnal Animals chronologically, this inevitable fate is first hinted at when a younger Susan shares a terse dinner with her mother, Anne Sutton (Laura Linney)--Anne wears an outfit and copious makeup that makes her look more like a doll than a person, foreshadowing Susan's transformation. Susan and the people she associates with all appear to be overworked, with too much makeup and plastic surgery, as though they were concealing themselves from themselves, their lives a living deception. This is what makes Edward's novel such a shattering revelation for Susan; the story is painful and tragic, but if Susan's visualization of the events is the truth, the world of "Nocturnal Animals" is far more real than her own. The first time we see Susan out of her caked-on makeup is when she lays down to begin reading the manuscript--she is essentially "naked" and exposed, allowing her soul to open up and take in this opus of the husband she left and loved.
The story of "Nocturnal Animals" is about a man named Tony Hastings (also Jake Gyllenhaal), who takes his wife and teenage daughter through the desert roads in West Texas one ill-fated night to their new home. After the family inadvertently draws the attention of a group of roughs that run them off the road, leaving them with a flat tire. A tense encounter quickly escalates, dividing Tony from his wife and daughter. After procuring the assistance of the the stern (yet justice-driven) Detective Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon), Tony discovers his family was raped and murdered. This tragedy leads to an quest for vengeance against the criminals who destroyed his life. The novel affects Susan dramatically; in her mind, Tony is Edward, visually expressed by having the same actor in both roles. Similarly, Tony's family looks eerily like Susan and her own teenage daughter with Hutton, at least as Susan pictures it. There is a saying about writers that they write what they know; it is mentioned by Susan in one of her flashbacks, although she claims Edward should not write about himself, because it bores her. Nocturnal Animals is intentionally coy about how much--if anything--from Edward's novel is drawn from personal experiences they shared. There are small details that suggest that Edward has drawn some of the story from his memories of Susan, from a gold necklace Susan and Tony's wife share to the location in their home state of Texas.
The shocking story of crime and revenge of "Nocturnal Animals" recalls hard-boiled thrillers by Jim Thompson, and the dark and dusty "lost highway" Tony and his family find themselves on--accosted by unpredictable degenerates--is similar to films by David Lynch, like Blue Velvet. The dialogue of Detective Andes and the gang which destroys Tony's life is riddled with cryptic intent beneath the thick, Texan drawl--it always seems to portend more than what is actually said. Susan is riveted by Edward's new novel, and clearly finishes it, even though she never seemed interested in his "romantic" work when they were married. But Susan's physiological response to it is more akin to repulsion--she is drawn in by the discomfort. There is a sense that Susan is constantly punishing herself--even before she and Edward become intimate--and is thoroughly determined to avoid becoming like her mother, so much so that she pushes away anything she feels she might inadvertently destroy. The irony here is that in doing so, she has laid the foundation for Edward to craft his dark masterpiece. In turn, Edward's novel seems like a "weapon" designed to expose Susan's fears and emotions--a kind of vindication against her, like the revenge which Tony seeks against the destroyers of his happiness. Susan is a person who is trapped in a cycle of self-professed cynicism and fear of vulnerability, and has actively allowed herself to become a prisoner of banal, "junk" culture and a shallow existence. Simply put, she is afraid to feel, and this fear was what ultimately led her to Hutton and away from Edward, no matter how vehemently she claimed otherwise. Edward's novel serves double duty--for her and the audience of Nocturnal Animals: it is a jarring escape from this meaningless malaise, and a stark reminder of fighting for what you love before it is ripped away from you.
Recommended for: Fans of a multi-layered drama about empty ambivalence and pointless opulence contrasted with the fiction of Edward's novel, depicting a barren and dusty world of bleak despair and meaningless torment. Nocturnal Animals depicts the kind of emotional response a reader experiences when empathizing with a protagonist, pairing one's own experiences in an act of self-awareness.
The story of "Nocturnal Animals" is about a man named Tony Hastings (also Jake Gyllenhaal), who takes his wife and teenage daughter through the desert roads in West Texas one ill-fated night to their new home. After the family inadvertently draws the attention of a group of roughs that run them off the road, leaving them with a flat tire. A tense encounter quickly escalates, dividing Tony from his wife and daughter. After procuring the assistance of the the stern (yet justice-driven) Detective Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon), Tony discovers his family was raped and murdered. This tragedy leads to an quest for vengeance against the criminals who destroyed his life. The novel affects Susan dramatically; in her mind, Tony is Edward, visually expressed by having the same actor in both roles. Similarly, Tony's family looks eerily like Susan and her own teenage daughter with Hutton, at least as Susan pictures it. There is a saying about writers that they write what they know; it is mentioned by Susan in one of her flashbacks, although she claims Edward should not write about himself, because it bores her. Nocturnal Animals is intentionally coy about how much--if anything--from Edward's novel is drawn from personal experiences they shared. There are small details that suggest that Edward has drawn some of the story from his memories of Susan, from a gold necklace Susan and Tony's wife share to the location in their home state of Texas.
The shocking story of crime and revenge of "Nocturnal Animals" recalls hard-boiled thrillers by Jim Thompson, and the dark and dusty "lost highway" Tony and his family find themselves on--accosted by unpredictable degenerates--is similar to films by David Lynch, like Blue Velvet. The dialogue of Detective Andes and the gang which destroys Tony's life is riddled with cryptic intent beneath the thick, Texan drawl--it always seems to portend more than what is actually said. Susan is riveted by Edward's new novel, and clearly finishes it, even though she never seemed interested in his "romantic" work when they were married. But Susan's physiological response to it is more akin to repulsion--she is drawn in by the discomfort. There is a sense that Susan is constantly punishing herself--even before she and Edward become intimate--and is thoroughly determined to avoid becoming like her mother, so much so that she pushes away anything she feels she might inadvertently destroy. The irony here is that in doing so, she has laid the foundation for Edward to craft his dark masterpiece. In turn, Edward's novel seems like a "weapon" designed to expose Susan's fears and emotions--a kind of vindication against her, like the revenge which Tony seeks against the destroyers of his happiness. Susan is a person who is trapped in a cycle of self-professed cynicism and fear of vulnerability, and has actively allowed herself to become a prisoner of banal, "junk" culture and a shallow existence. Simply put, she is afraid to feel, and this fear was what ultimately led her to Hutton and away from Edward, no matter how vehemently she claimed otherwise. Edward's novel serves double duty--for her and the audience of Nocturnal Animals: it is a jarring escape from this meaningless malaise, and a stark reminder of fighting for what you love before it is ripped away from you.
Recommended for: Fans of a multi-layered drama about empty ambivalence and pointless opulence contrasted with the fiction of Edward's novel, depicting a barren and dusty world of bleak despair and meaningless torment. Nocturnal Animals depicts the kind of emotional response a reader experiences when empathizing with a protagonist, pairing one's own experiences in an act of self-awareness.