This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
The Whole World Is Crazy Save Me and Thee;
Lately I'm Beginning To Wonder About Thee.
Plot Overview
TCOTO was adapted by its
writer/director from a Patricia Highsmith novel allowing the
astute viewer to piece together its backstory from embedded clues.
In it college grad Robert Forrester (Paddy Considine) became a valued
aeronautical designer in the prestigious, New York firm Joseph
Keys. We see his cool aerodynamic designs on display. One day
at an art gallery he spies a woman Nickie Grace (Caroline Dhavernas)
standing so still she looks like an exhibit herself until she
moves—like a space craft coming out of orbit. He falls for her
in a rush and it's “all downhill from there.” They
get married. She was out to attract a rich, cultured guy, we suppose.
At age 37 he is now being divorced by this picture perfect bride who
turned out to be a drunk and a slovenly housekeeper. She can't
cook and when he does, she mistakes his vegetable knife for
a threat. To escape the angst associated with her presence in the
home, he moves to Humbert in northeastern Pennsylvania and takes a
job with a smaller company Lavigne Aeronautics where he's appreciated
and tolerated in his eccentricities: inappropriate jokes, sans tie
attire, late arrival. He gives important presentations on his designs.
Then he feels like a peripatetic hobo when his company wants
him to move yet again for a promotion.
He has placed all his "stuff"
in storage so as not to be reminded of the marital strife surrounding
it, an “anal” type with a disordered wife. His new suburban
rental is devoid of any bric-a-brac whatsoever. At this
point it would have been helpful for his new work buddy Jack Neilson
(Gord Rand) to invite him over for dinner with the family—he
hadn't met their kid yet—to help him get his bearings on what
a harmonious family unit looks like, but instead he tries to fix Robert
up with eligible women even though his divorce is not yet final. Maybe
Nickie will change her mind—Ha!—or the way this movie
goes one of them may die. Bored Robert wanders around his environs
at night and stops—more than once—at the lighted windows
of an isolated house to observe its sole occupant Jenny Thierolf (Julia
Stiles)—who works banker's hours—happily going about her
domestic chores. In the country people are hospitable & curious
about their neighbors, so when she discovers him out there, she invites
him in and in the course of time they become intimate, which shouldn't
have happened as he's “sort of married.”
Although Jenny is a tidy homemaker, there is something
screwy going on with her upstairs. When she was ≈15, her father's
friend stayed at their house for a time, and her little brother got
sick and died soon afterwards. She's got it into her head that
the one was the harbinger of the other. Fortunately, she treats it
like her favorite food blueberry pancakes: The berries keep their
form quite well in the cooking, and she treats these
“harbingers” as discrete events. Not so with this new
stranger entering her life whose presence expands exponentially in
her mind. Robert is more like her favorite, Louis Armstrong song,
“A
Kiss to Build a Dream On.” She keeps trying in vain to interpret
the signs associated with his appearing, but there is no greater meaning
in it than what it is. This cannot end well for her, and it upsets
her erstwhile boyfriend Greg Wyncoop (James Gilbert) whom
she'd unceremoniously dumped. Her friend Susie Escham (Jennifer
Kydd) on a group trek through the woods to see (“The sun's going
down”) a sunset (“it's beautiful”)—a product
of light refraction through the air—had wanted her to stick
with the “nice” guy rather than take up with one unknown.
We suppose she really needed to follow advice from author Paul Landis,
In Defense of Dating::
It is quite logical to believe that some kind of dating is necessary to the development of the judgment and pair interaction that is at the root of real objectivity in mate selection. Those who have dated more than one person have a chance to compare and to learn some of the usual behavior patterns of members of the opposite sex. They learn to distinguish between those whose personalities seem to promise a durable compatibility and those whose personalities obviously do not. Dating is an exploratory experience through which young people learn. In most circles today, therefore, it is considered desirable that young people “circulate” rather than “go steady” from the beginning, that some variety of dating experience is favorable to ultimate mate choice. The girl who is considered desirable as a date by a number of fellows is presumed to be the one most likely to be sought after in marriage. (223)
This would fulfill her need for mystery if she keeps it up in the air whom she will eventually settle with, and an extra acquaintance would be lost in the mix not worrying Susie. If she can postpone the sex act to marriage, why, there's another mystery awaiting her.
If Robert were just another guy seen hanging out with Jenny, Greg
would likely not have assaulted him on a lonely stretch of road above
deep, cold Crystal River. After Robert a lefty clocks him with a lucky
punch and leaves him dazed on the bank, he splits (understandably)
but when Greg turns up missing, the police have questions. Robert
dissembles as much as the next guy for social advantage, and it didn't
look to me like Greg could have rolled back down into he drink, but
talking to the police it won't look good for an aerospace designer
to be a gravity denier. And once Robert's name makes the papers as
a person of interest in the disappearance, he will quickly discover
the disadvantage of a small town where everyone knows everybody
else's business. The hobo option might start looking good.
Ideology
The book's plot is successfully adapted into this movie under
review, but it needs something to grease the skids, as it were. That
is found in, (Eccl. 10:19) “A
feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all
things.” At Jack & Sally's anniversary gathering, everyone
(except Robert) seemed to be having a jolly good time, but Robert needed
something less intense. Jenny provided that by inviting him in for
coffee and cookie. Later they dined a couple times at upscale La Castle
Restaurant, and at a diner, and for breakfast at home. This gave them a
chance to let their hair down and for their relationship to progress.
Robert shared a beer with friend and neighbor taking the weight off
his depression and disrupting the aim of an assailant.
Money provides a solution to all kinds
of problems. When it dawns on Jack that it's his wedding anniversary
and he's forgotten all about it, he purposes to stop and buy some
wine and candy on the way home, but he doesn't have his credit card
on him, either. Robert generously pulls out a wad of cash and saves
the day. The police are stymied when they have a suspect but not enough
evidence to make a charge stick, or for that matter no certainty whether
there's even been a crime in the first place. When a money trail comes
to light, though, they are not going to put it down as coincidence.
Production Values
“” (2009) was written and directed by Jamie Thraves who adapted it from a Patricia Highsmith novel, The Cry of the Owl. It's a remake of the 1987 French film with the same title. It stars Paddy Considine, Julia Stiles and Caroline Dhavernas. All the performances were excellent. Beautiful Dhavernas pulled off the deceptive wife: a bitch under the skin. Considine did not overact his sullen part.
MPAA rated it R for violence and language. It's a book-derived
drama, so don't expect a fast pace. The fisticuffs seemed genuine
and the blood looked real. Though it's a mystery it's easy to follow.
The cinematography by Luc Montpellier enhances the haunting
creepiness of the film. Jeff Daniels's minimal musical score accents
the tension. The editing is at times abrupt. It was filmed in rural
Canada. Runtime is 1 hour 40 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
Poor decisions on multiple fronts mount
up until it seems hopeless for the protagonist. A good move at the
end provoked by a fluttering owl might help him pull his chestnuts
out of the fire. As author John Fowles once put it, “How do
you think Christianity started? Or anything else? With a little
group of people who didn't give up hope” (140). This is a mystery
drama able to be appreciated by aficionados of a good read. It's more
a nail-biter than a fast hitter. Character roles are hard to figure
out, which challenge adds to its appeal. I really enjoyed it.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Well done action flick. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Five stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quotation from the Authorized King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Fowles, John. The Collector. Copyright © 1963 by John Fowles. Copyright renewed © 1991 by John Fowles Reading Group Guide. Copyright © 2010 by the estate of John Fowles and Little, Brown and Company. New York: Back Bay Books / Little, Brown and Co., 1997. Print.
Landis, Paul H. Making the Most of Marriage. New York: Meredith Publishing, 1965. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org