Tom Ford's 'Nocturnal Animals' Masks Value With Revenge (Spoilers)
Just the other week I saw the trailer for Tom Ford’s second foray filmmaking: ‘Nocturnal Animals.’. Without a doubt I knew I was going to see the movie; ‘A Single Man’(2009) was spectacular to me. So I went to the Angelika Film Center to catch a showing last night. So how did Ford fair for his second go as a writer, producer and director?
In a nutshell, ‘Nocturnal Animals’ is a beautiful tale of revenge but has a deeper message.
The movie’s opening credits are paired with heavier naked women dancing while holding sparklers, donning latex white boots. The striking visuals turn out to be apart of the opening of Amy Adams character’s art gallery. Amy Adams plays Susan Morrow, a well put together art gallery owner from an elitist family. Morrow is married to the gorgeous Hutton Morrow. Speaking of gorgeous it is no surprise that each and every scene in this movie could be pulled from a Vogue magazine pictorial. Everything in Susan Morrow’s world is visual perfection with a minimalist aesthetic. It is as if everything was properly placed before she walked into each and every room.
As the movie progresses we see Morrow, in all her perfection, is not happy in her marriage. Her husband gives her the typical “I have to be at the office” excuse which is an immediate red flag of infidelity. Before Mr. Morrow flies off to New York for “business,” from their Los Angeles home, they attend their friends’ dinner party. We are briefly introduced to the hosts of the night. Morrow and friend discuss Mr. Morrow’s failing business which then leads to Morrow asking her friend how she deals with “it.” It turns out “it” is her female friend being married to a gay husband. Her explanation is that they are best friends, love lasts longer than lust and that she will always be the only woman in his life.
The following day Morrow wakes up to a package from her ex-husband, Edward Sheffield played by Jake Gyllenhaal. The package contains a manuscript of a book titled “Nocturnal Animals” which he is about to release, along with a note for them to meetup to discuss it. Sheffield and Morrow have not spoken in nineteen years. This is when the movie splits into two stories from one. From here the movie juggles both real-life and the manuscript seamlessly. The manuscript causes Morrow to reflect on all of her choices that brought her to where she is today.
As Morrow begins to read the manuscript the audience is taken on a thrilling ride. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Tony Hastings who is about to embark on a roadtrip accompanied by his wife(Isla Fisher) and daughter(Ellie Bamber). Tom Ford muses redheads; Julianne Moore was apart of ‘A Single Man’ and in this movie he casts four female redheads, including India Menuez who plays Morrow’s daughter. Hastings and family are now in the middle of the desert driving along at night where they are blocked as two cars in front of them are occupying both lanes. Hastings blows his horn and the two cars separate. This ends up in a road battle between Hastings and one of the cars containing three men. The cars lock bumpers and they end up on the roadside. Filled with fear, Hastings and family keep their doors locked as the three men approach the car.
Two of the three men end up taking the wife and daughter and leaves Hastings behind to follow. Hastings is then dropped off in the desert but the men later come back to look for him but fail to find him. The following day, Hastings finds himself in Lieutenant Bobby Andes’ office where he later retraces his steps to search for his wife and daughter. After miles of searching Hastings and Andes locate the dead naked bodies of his wife and daughter placed side by side on a red velvet couch, in the middle of a desert. As crazy as it may seem, even in death Ford creates a beautiful visual of two beautiful redheads.
Hastings and Andes search for the three men, one of which were killed in a store hold up since the killing of his wife and daughter. The men are brought in but later released which prompts Andes to encourage Hastings to seek revenge. One of the men is shot but the main culprit gets away. Hastings finds him shortly after and while holding the gun Hastings is chastised about being weak which ties into Gyllenhaal’s Sheffield character showing weakness with Morrow. Hastings shoots and kills the final guy but not before being struck in the head by a fire iron. Hastings later awakes and walks out into the desert but falls onto the ground shortly after. He lands on the gun and ends up shooting himself. In a pulsating heartbeat finish, Hastings can now be with his wife and daughter.
In all of the manuscript storytelling, Morrow has flashbacks to her and Sheffield’s history. First them running into each other in New York City after growing up together in Texas. A standout moment in her flashbacks was Morrow’s dinner with her mother played by Laura Linney. This is when we truly see the privileged background in which Morrow is created from. Linney’s one-liners are everything and what you would expect coming from a high society lady: logic with minimal emotion. Morrow still rejects her mother’s ideas as she has not realized that she and her mother are not so different. As the flashbacks continue you see Morrow basically abandon Sheffield and into the arms of her current wavering husband. The final flashback showed Sheffield catching Morrow embraced with Mr. Morrow after just aborting Sheffield’s baby, without him knowing.
Tuesday night arrived, Morrow completed the manuscript and dresses to meet Sheffield. She leaves her wedding ring, already knowing her husband is cheating on her and sets out to meet Sheffield. Morrow arrives at the Japanese restaurant. She waits and waits, and waits until she realizes she was stood up. The movie comes to a close.
‘Nocturnal Animals’ is a tale of revenge. We saw Hastings avenge the death of his wife and daughter but this story within a story served a bigger purpose of Morrow’s and Sheffield’s relationship. Yes, on the surface Sheffield’s actions can be looked at as petty revenge. He sends a manuscript nineteen years after they divorce only to get her excited about meeting him and end up standing her up to make her feel at least some of the pain she caused him. It was true what Morrow’s mother told her about the same things she loved in Sheffield would be the same things she would grow to hate but in the end she was unhappy. It was Sheffield who made her believe in being the creative she could not see in herself. In the end, ‘Nocturnal Animals’ left an impression, as the poster states, “When you love someone you just can’t throw it away.”