•
Rating: “Nocturnal Animals”
This film written, directed, and co-produced by the designer and director Tom Ford, is based on the novel (which I haven't read) “Tony & Susan” by Austin Wright from 1993.
I really enjoyed it, although I would be cautious about defining it as noir, because noir is only the content of the manuscript/draft Nocturnal Animals that the ex-husband (Edward) sends to the ex-wife (Susan) after nearly 20 years of separation, which takes the title from a nickname dedicated by Edward to his beloved Susan.
That draft triggers many "triggers" not only for Susan but also for those watching the film, so much so that at the beginning, I was tempted to stop watching due to the excessive (to my eyes) violence of what was happening, oh well, among which (a bit later) the trigger of revenge.
On this note, just to remind us among the various parallels between reality (in/of the film) and fantasy (in the novel/draft), there's even a painting that covers the wall of the gallery (where Susan works) with the words
RE
VEN
GE
in white on black.
Just to mention one thing, I, seeing the ending (not of the book/draft but of the film), would have titled it without spoiling anything, um “Revenge at the Chinese Restaurant” (well, at least it seemed Chinese to me), but maybe it might seem like a sarcastic title and TF did well to choose what he chose, and nothing...
Two phrases (both pronounced at the table but in two different contexts) that, beyond the film's content, are contained within the real life in the film and not in the novel/draft, and which stuck with me for their incongruence with everything else, I want to leave to close this modest review, namely:
1 - (a pretty girl at the table where Susan is also sitting) […] so I said: “Well, my mother always told me that if you massage between your legs with frying oil, a month before giving birth, you won't need a vaginoplasty” […] (laughter from those at the table…)
2 - (the dinner between Edward and Susan after meeting again in New York, before they became husband and wife) […] S: Do you want to come to my house?
E: Well, you're quite direct.
S: Indeed! He he…
E: I must say I didn't expect that from a Texas debutante.
S: All debutantes are a bit slutty, you know! […]
One last curiosity, the filming lasted only 2 months, starting on October 5, 2015 in Los Angeles in California and ending on December 5.
Loading comments slowly
