The Big Picture
- Nocturnal Animals is a brutal and intense thriller with dual plot lines that add depth and emotion.
- Jake Gyllenhaal impressively embodies two challenging roles in the film, showcasing his impressive range.
- The theme of revenge in the film serves as a poignant and powerful narrative tool to convey complex emotions and relationships.
When Tom Ford, the prolific fashion designer and art-world figurehead, first stepped into the world of film with 2009's A Single Man, he immediately mystified us with the question of why he waited so long to become a filmmaker. The Colin Firth vehicle was rightfully lauded and is well-worth a rewatch to this day, but Ford, not one needing to scrounge for the next paycheck, would take another long break before writing and directing for the screen again. When he finally did, we got 2016's Nocturnal Animals, another bafflingly masterful venture for a filmmaker who's technically new to the game.
Nocturnal Animals is a difficult watch; it never shies from the chance to instill every ounce of brutality, anguish, and terror that the story dictates. Every bit of it is earned, though, and in service of a narrative that simply wouldn't work if tempered down. The bulk of the barbarity is the burden of two characters, but one actor, in the film. Jake Gyllenhaal takes on two roles to tell one connected thread in this story of loss, grief, and revenge.
Nocturnal Animals
Drama
Thriller
A wealthy art gallery owner is haunted by her ex-husband's novel, a violent thriller she interprets as a symbolic revenge tale.
- Release Date
- December 9, 2016
- Director
- Tom Ford
- Cast
- Amy Adams , Jake Gyllenhaal , Michael Shannon , Aaron Taylor-Johnson , Isla Fisher , Ellie Bamber
- Runtime
- 116 minutes
What Is 'Nocturnal Animals' About?
Nocturnal Animals is centered on Susan (Amy Adams), a wealthy owner of an art gallery who's received a peculiar package from her ex-husband, Edward (Gyllenhaal). In the parcel is a manuscript of Edward's upcoming novel, a work titled "Nocturnal Animals," which he's dedicated to Susan. To strike the heart even more deeply, as we'll learn, its name comes from the nickname Edward once held for Susan. As she trudges through her life, parrying with a detached and unfaithful husband, Hutton (Armie Hammer), and a work-life filled with fellow shallowly-minded people, Susan reads the manuscript bit-by-bit during any alone time she finds. The story of the novel is depicted as Susan reads, which is where Nocturnal Animals gets its second, simultaneous plot line. The world of the novel has a separate cast, save for Gyllenhaal.
The dramatization follows a man named Tony (portrayed by Gyllenhaal), his wife Laura (Isla Fisher), and their daughter India (Ellie Bamber) at the start of a family vacation. As they drive through West Texas, in what can only be described as truly the middle of nowhere, a road rage incident quickly turns incredibly dark. The other vehicle involved, which runs the family off the road after an exchange of shouts and expletives, is filled with a gang of three sad*stic young men: Ray (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Steve (Robert Aramayo), and Lou (Karl Glusman). Far from cellular reception, the family is helpless. Laura and India are kidnapped and separated from Tony, and the brutality only deepens from there.
Jake Gyllenhaal Doesn't Back Out of an Acting Challenge
October Sky, which gave Jake Gyllenhaal his first leading role, was soon followed by his turn in Donnie Darko, and the wide net of his career only expanded from there. As with any of Hollywood's leading men, Gyllenhaal has his fair share of rom-coms and action blockbusters, but the real meat of his work comes in the form of intense dramas, the ones with troubled and languishing characters. Brokeback Mountain, which paired Gyllenhaal as the romantic partner alongside Heath Ledger, was a spearhead of controversy for its time, and it remains one of the major pillars of bringing same-sex relationships to the mainstream media.
He continued down the road of intensity year after year, from Brothers to End of Watch, and back-to-back turns with director Denis Villeneuve, with Prisoners and Enemy. Gyllenhaal's performance in 2014's Nightcrawler, however, was likely the most indicative precursor to the major undertaking of Nocturnal Animals. Playing a camera operator turned ambulance chaser, following and recording violent events in order to sell footage to the local news station, Gyllenhaal's character brought him to a level of twisted introspection he hadn't yet explored. While his double duty in Nocturnal Animals is that of a more sympathetic figure, it was a major stepping stone in Gyllenhaal's impressive range.
'Nocturnal Animals' Dual Plots Add Depth
In the world of the novel, Tony eventually finds his way to the police, seeking aid in finding his wife and daughter, who've been kidnapped by the three men. He's connected with Detective Andes (Michael Shannon), a gruff and stoic man who exudes unfaltering dedication. Soon, the tragic outcome of the incident is revealed, when they find the discarded bodies of Laura and India. Left outside on a trashed red couch, stripped of their clothing and posed in embrace of each other, Tony's wife and daughter were violated and viciously murdered.
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In the years to come, Detective Andes devotes himself to helping Tony find the men that did this and bring them to justice. When it becomes clear that legal means won't sufficiently aid them, they step outside the law, spurred by Detective Andes' inhibition — a result of his battle with terminal cancer that's left him dourly carefree. Edward's novel is about a man who's had everything taken from him, regret over his inability to protect his family, and his swift spiral toward a path of revenge. Susan, as she pours through Nocturnal Animals, is overcome with emotion and fully affected by its scarring content, even as she attempts to go about her life between sessions of reading.
Jake Gyllenhaal Embodies Revenge
The theme of revenge seeps out of Edward's novel. In actuality, the true revenge is not Tony's journey, bent on killing the men that attacked his family; the revenge lies in Edward's purpose for writing Nocturnal Animals and how it would strike Susan. In their marriage, she treated him poorly. Scoffing at his writing aspirations, visibly pining for a higher-status life, and, eventually, leaving him for another man who would encourage her to terminate the pregnancy she conceived with Edward.
Like Tony, stripped of his chance at a fulfilled family life, Edward set himself on a path of revenge. He would write Nocturnal Animals, dedicated to Susan, piercing at her heart with its drama. Upon reading it, Susan seems to convince herself that she's once again falling in love with the idea of Edward, and she asks to meet with him for dinner. Edward agrees, but he never shows up, and Susan is left sitting alone for hours at a table for two — the final move in his plot for revenge.
While the final scene is a long, somber moment spent with Susan alone (a culmination of expert subtlety sustained by Adams throughout the film), Edward's presence is fully felt, even in his absence. Gyllenhaal walked a fine line as he juggled the two roles. Edward created Tony and therefore imbued him with everything about himself that he wanted Susan to see: a man stripped of his love and mocked for his sensitivity. By crafting and fully embodying two versions of one soul, Gyllenhaal took the reins of a Tom Ford project and made it feel like he was its true writer. By the end, you empathize entirely with Edward, a fictional character, and Tony, a fictional character Edward conjured, even more.
Nocturnal Animals is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.
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