Spoiler Review
Nocturnal Animals is a revenge drama/thriller movie. It’s about the characters Susan played by Amy Adams and Edward played by Jake Gyllenhaal and their relationship. The story shows how Susan who loves art and Edward who aspires to be a writer fall in love with each other and get married but their relationship falls apart because she believes she’s not happy with him and does not believe in Edward, his writing and considers him rather sensitive or weak. Susan leaves Edward for another man and also aborts their child she was pregnant with without telling Edward. This crushes Edward. Nineteen years later, Susan - who is an art gallery owner, married and has a daughter now, receives a novel named Nocturnal Animals which Edward wrote and sends her the first copy to read. The novel contains story of Tony Hastings (Jake Gyllenhaal) who was travelling in car along with his wife and daughter gets attacked on a deserted highway in the middle of the night by a guy named Ray Marcus (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his friends who kidnap Tony’s wife and daughter and are found sexually assaulted and dead the next day. The rest of the novel tells us how with the help of a cop Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon) they catch the attackers and bring them to justice. This is the main plot of the movie which tells us Susan and Edward’s story through three different sections or narratives which is, the past, the present and the novel.
Tom Ford has created this movie in a very artistic way with its symbolism, expression and attention to detail. The opening shot itself tells us that; which is a scene of naked, obese women in makeup and hat dancing as display of art by Susan. This scene here shows how those naked women are happy in being themselves while Susan who has everything she needs and who is selling this happiness is not happy herself. This is a concept that is wonderfully displayed without any dialogues or conversations that explain the scene. The music created for the movie adds more intensity and depth to the whole cinematic experience and is done well.
The movie is shown in three sections – the present, the past and the novel. The main story of the movie is portrayed through the novel and the present. The past is shown in flashbacks. The novel is read from Susan’s perspective and what we see is how Susan visualizes it. Susan’s and Edwards whole relationship is described in the novel through symbolism. It is subtly mentioned in the movie through dialogues like ‘Every author writes about himself’ and even the name of the novel Nocturnal Animals was chosen because that is what Edward used to call Susan when they were together which is very apt cause she barely gets any sleep and is unhappy with her life. In the novel, the death of Tony’s daughter represents the death of Susan and Edward’s unborn child and his wife’s death represents how Susan has changed and is not the same person anymore. Ray Marcus (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) represents the Susan that broke his heart, who didn’t believe in him and destroyed him. The cop Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon) represents Edward’s conscience that is very empathetic and determined in bringing the attackers to justice at any cost. Since their past is shown in flashbacks we get to see how it is related to the novel as the movie progresses on.
The novel is Edward’s revenge towards Susan showing her he is not that weak person anymore who she thinks he is and has become a successful writer after all. This is also depicted in the movie where Edward is asked why he is driven to write and he says, ‘It is to keep things alive, so that it’ll last forever’. Throughout the movie we are shown through imagery and scenes how the novel is essentially about Edward. Tony’s wife in the novel wears the same cross necklace as Susan and even looks like her. The couch where the dead bodies of Tony’s wife and daughter are shown is the same couch Susan was sitting when she implied that she didn’t believe in Edward and his writing. In both scenes where the couch was involved, it caused Edward pain. The car that Ray Marcus drives is the same car as shown in the background when Susan tells Edward that she is not happy in their relationship and wants to leave him. We see a ‘Revenge’ poster in Susan’s office which is the theme of the movie. We also see a jump scare of Ray Marcus popping up on a mobile screen which Susan was watching. This could represent her guilt as Ray Marcus is depicted as the Susan that destroyed Edward. There is a poster in Susan’s house that has two people in field with grass with one of them pointing a gun towards the other. This is how the novel also ends where the scene takes place in a deserted place with a gun involved.
The movie is very artistically made where the scenes have deeper meanings to them and one has to pay attention to detail. This is beautifully showcased to us by Tom Ford and you can tell a great amount of effort has been put in the making of the film. In the movie there are quite a few scenes where to show continuity or similar situation or a person’s feeling, the ending of a scene and beginning of another are same or similar shots. For example, when Susan is devastated from reading the book and is in the shower, the next scene starts with Tony from the novel who is devastated and is in the shower. During the death scene of Tony’s wife and daughter, we see Susan make a call to check up on her daughter who lies in bed with her partner in the same position as Tony’s wife and daughter from the previous scene. When Susan sends Edward an email, in the next scene we see Tony in the novel receive an email. There are a few more scenes like this which transcend the emotion from one scene to another.
The cast of the movie is simply perfect. Amy Adams portrays the role of a sophisticated artist who has everything she needs and is still unhappy. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays a creepy guy and he gets under your skin. He makes you uncomfortable and you hate him, which exactly how you should feel about that character. This could be Aaron’s best role yet. Jake Gyllenhaal’s character has so much pain, angst and vulnerability to him and you see those emotions going through his face and you feel sad for him. Jake does justice to his character. Michael Shannon gives a powerful performance who plays the cop and is also depicted as Edward’s conscience. He’s empathetic and determined and could be the toughest character of them all.
The ending of the movie has been left open to the audience where they can interpret what it actually means. We see Susan waiting for Edward in a restaurant who does not show up and the credits roll. My interpretation is that Edward has had his revenge. The old Edward who was considered weak is dead as per the novel and he has changed. He became a successful writer and has proved it to her. The novel devastated Susan and in a way made her fall for him again. In the end we see Susan happy and eager to see Edward. This could be Edward’s final revenge. Edward has always said that her eyes always looked sad but she was happy in a long time when she was waiting for him. Edward would’ve come to the restaurant and seen her from afar and watched her happiness go away as she realizes that Edward stood her up. The movie ends with Susan’s eye’s close up which are sad again.
