“Do you ever feel like your life is turning into something you never intended?” Nocturnal Animals Film Review

I was deeply moved by Tom Ford’s second feature film ‘Nocturnal Animals’ in a way I didn’t expect to be. Better known as a fashion designer than a Oscar nominated film director, screenwriter and film producer I expected the movie to be visually stunning. The wardrobe, art direction and set design did not disappoint and it’s almost incredible to discover not a single piece of his own line was used in either A Single Man or this one. Tom Ford has stated he doesn’t want the audience to be taken out of the film or confuse it for a “branded film” promoting his clothes to his credit.  It’s a smart move because his films are just so ravishing with the uses of Dior, Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs and the narrative tends to captivate you with the interesting story line and all star cast such as Amy Adams, Armie Hammer and Jake Gyllenhaal.

The film’s opening sequence captures your attention immediately. It’s hilarious and objectifying and a part of you wants to yell out “YAAASSSSS, SLAAAAYYY” …or maybe that was just me. But without spoiling the scene we immediately learn it is only an art piece of protagonist Susan’s (Amy Adams) curation and a complete juxtaposition to the rest of the film. It’s so David Lynch! I quite enjoyed the opening although I’ve read other moviegoers were disgusted by this scene because it’s a harsh contrast to the rest of the film and they feel it’s not only making fun of the art scene but also making fun of the figures used. I disagree. Art can be objectifying and cruel and one of the main themes in this film is how we perceive fact and fiction’s cruelty although this opening scene doesn’t quite set the mood for the rest of the film.  We learn Susan an art curator and also on a prestigious art board and doesn’t get any joy from it. She says it herself several times in the film, she’s just not very creative because she’s too cynical and realistic after switching from an art major to an art historian back in her 20s. The opening sequence is so ridiculous and almost comical that as we get to know Susan more throughout the film we better understand why of course she would hate what she does.

What I especially enjoyed about this film was how the two coinciding storylines are so beautifully told within each other. Both are haunting in different ways. It begins with Susan as we get a glimpse of her lavish, lonesome life, working a job she just doesn’t enjoy and trying to connect with her distant husband Hutton (Armie Hammer).  She is notified of a package that arrives carrying a manuscript of her estranged ex husband’s latest novel dedicated to her titled “Nocturnal Animals.” A name we learn he used to call her because of her inability to sleep at night and a habit she still struggles with now. When she begins to read the novel the movie takes an interesting turn cutting back in forth between the fictional piece and Susan’s real life in between reading it. The main character is Tony, who Susan interprets to resemble her ex husband Edward, both played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Him, his wife and daughter are packing their old Mercedes for a road trip to Marfa, Texas. We as the viewer quickly note both Laura (Isla Fisher) his wife and India his daughter resemble Susan herself and her real life daughter who we get a quick glimpse of after a very violent scene involving the fictional mother and daughter. While driving in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night in a west Texas landscape the family’s peaceful ride is quickly shattered by a gang of men playing chicken on the lonely stretch of road. They try to drive past them but are quickly involved in an altercation that escalates into something out of a nightmare. The violence in the novel rattles Susan out of reading the novel and brings us back to her life,  where we see her still up in the dead of night.

And so it continues this way, Susan reads and Tony’s story unfolds before our eyes through her and stops when she puts down the manuscript to continue her regular life. The film is so gorgeously shot. The contrast of the novel’s dusty, Texan desert landscape versus the Los Angeles opulent home, all concrete and glass, the minimal, hospital white art museum hallways and board rooms that Susan dwells in. The novel aspect of the film has this suspenseful, pulp fiction, neo noir feel to it. While Susan’s life has more of a minimal, brooding, loneliness.  She is the walking dead compared to Tony’s thrilling, tragic, terrifying life. We also get a glimpse of Susan’s life with Edward when they were together and begin to understand why Susan holds such guilt over their time together. She explains her lack of faith in him as a writer  and how critical and cruel she was towards his early work and sees him as too weak for her. She also hints at how horribly she ended things with him and we assume of course she cheated but eventually learn there was more to the unfaithful end.

The film does a great job instilling the same thrilling, guilty pleasure Susan feels while reading the book. We see her developing a connection she once had with Edward through his story dedicated to her. She remembers how kind and good he was towards her and how she didn’t appreciate it then but longs for it now. However the ending packs a punch unexpected by some and completely missed by others. It’s simple and realistic and many of us have in some form or another sat in Susan’s spot before. I don’t believe the ending falls flat if you’re able put together all the pieces in time and the film’s pace had my attention throughout and never really brought me out except for a few moments that made me chuckle whether they were intentional or not. The use of wardrobe for each character is so wonderfully thought out you get a quick sense of who each of them are by the way they’re dressed. This is a film that can be watched again and you’ll gather more through each viewing to better understand the final sequence and the impactful meaning behind it. The tale and characters are haunting enough that the story stays with you even after the first viewing. There are so many fascinating layers in this sophisticated melodrama and is an interesting interpretation of the famous Asian proverb “revenge is a dish best served cold…”

Four stars!

 

***Spoiler for those who saw the film and may not have got the ending. Honestly, don’t read below if you haven’t yet seen the film. I couldn’t help touch on this however because there seemed to be quite a number of people who missed the punch line of this film entirely***

For those of you who watched the film and felt it ended abruptly you may have missed the point completely and I know there are a few of you who will! It was the most appalling thing I read while scanning other reviews and comments left towards the film and honestly I can’t help but shake my head and face palm at this. The film ends with Susan’s enjoyment of the story. She says it’s violent and terrifying yet captivating and asks Edwards to meet up to discuss it some more. He simply replies “Name the time and place” and we see her looking her best, arriving first in the fanciest restaurant. She orders a drink and excitedly waits for his arrival. We then see a shift in customers around her, her ordering another drink and eventually we —and she—realize she’s been stood up.  There is even a major clue given to us by the director through an art piece Susan suddenly notices on her way to a board meeting but doesn’t recall purchasing when she asks about it. The artwork is a simple black canvas piece with big white letters that spell REV-ENG-E out in a fractured, protracted way vertically.

You see the novel is Edward’s interpretation of what happened between Susan and his relationship. During their time together Susan always criticized his lack of skill to write about himself in an captivating way and his weakness and insecurity as a man in her life. The novel presented to her, albeit about a man who’s family is killed and his strife for justice is just a clever interpretation of what Susan essentially did to him. The terrorists who attack the family are Susan. They are the “nocturnal animals” now a perverse use of the pet name given to her by Edward. Tony’s lack of strength and bravery to protect his family from the kidnapping represents the weakness Susan kept pointing out in Edward. The death of his wife and daughter represent the deceit and abortion Susan had.  His struggle to avenge his wife and daughter are a nod to him writing the novel, putting this heart breaking past behind him and him replying in his usual “nice guy” sort of way and not showing up is him finally sticking it to her. I thought it was a great juxtaposition—there’s that word again—of how in literature and film we tend to ramp up a revenge story into this great retribution journey against the person who wronged us but in reality we tend to deal with these people by moving on, forgetting them and bettering ourselves. Having this novel within the film brings Susan and Edward’s story closer to a reality many of us have endured or understand and distances Tony’s story completely. Tony’s emotional struggle, his tale of terror, survival and vengeance contrasts Susan’s mundane, lavish life that she spends mostly alone.

Edward’s fictional character Tony murdering his family’s killer at the end is visceral and feels like justice while Edward’s own actions of writing a book, sending his ex wife a manuscript and standing her up just comes off a petty especially upon knowing Susan’s  still remorseful feelings towards the end of their marriage and current affairs. One is less dramatic than the other but doesn’t make it any less satisfying for Edward.