The Squid and the Whale (2005)
directed by Noah Baumbach
A semi-autobiographical story about divorce and the effect it has on children. We are in Brooklyn, in the 1980s, where Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels), once a great writer, and his wife Joan (Laura Linney ) are going through a divorce. They have two sons, Frank (Owen Kline) and Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) who are having a hard time dealing with the separation and joint custody. The youngest, Frank, takes his mother’s side while Walt is being influenced by his father. Focused mostly on teaching, Bernard starts a romance – if you can call it that – with one of his students when she moves in to his new place because her lease has expired.
I’ve always said that parents can mess up their children and this movie is a very good example. Walt starts becoming more and more like his father, thinking he is superior to the “philistines” and Frank starts developing language and behavior not suited for a 12 year old.
Bernard’s behavior really gets to me. Ok, you have been a successful writer and yes you are smarter than most people and you are able to do and understand things the majority of people can’t, but that doesn’t give you the right to judge others and treat them like they are inferior to you. And I won’t even get started with the example he gives to his sons. I’m not saying the divorce and behavior of the two boys are all his fault, the mother did have several affairs during the years and she is not being a good example for the kids either.
It is sad to see how a child’s life is being modeled after his parents’ actions and behavior. That’s why they call it drama i guess.
Quote:
Walt Berkman: It’s like… we were pals then… we’d do things together… we’d look at the knight armor at the Met. The scary fish at the Natural History Museum. I was always afraid of the squid and whale fighting. I can only look at it with my hands in front of my face.
