{"id":294260,"date":"2021-07-08T22:16:04","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T19:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-ending-of-nocturnal-animals-explained\/"},"modified":"2021-07-08T22:16:04","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T19:16:04","slug":"the-ending-of-nocturnal-animals-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-ending-of-nocturnal-animals-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"#The Ending of Nocturnal Animals Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#The Ending of Nocturnal Animals Explained<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\">\n                <\/aside>\n<p><!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 3.7.9--><em>Ending Explained is a recurring <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> in which we explore the finales, secrets, and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">theme<\/a>s of interesting movies and shows, both new and old. This time, we consider two possible explanations for the ambiguous ending of Tom Ford\u2019s Nocturnal Animals. Yes, prepare for spoilers.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A good revenge story ultimately needs three things: a spiteful, cold-blooded villain; a heinous crime with a helpless victim; and last but certainly not least, a triumphant hero.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Tom Ford<\/strong>\u2019s stylish sophomore feature, <\/span><strong><i>Nocturnal Animals<\/i><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2016), has all the necessary elements. But on closer look, the twisted neo-noir isn\u2019t quite as simple as your run-of-the-mill bid for vengeance. The film introduces the blueprint of the revenge movie only to subvert it and turn it on its head at the end. Perhaps it means to tell us that exacting justice is never a simple feat, and in the real world, it always comes with unexpected casualties.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The film, an adaptation of Austin Wright\u2019s 1993 novel <em>Tony and Susan<\/em>, first introduces<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Susan Morrow (<strong>Amy Adams<\/strong>), a wealthy gallery owner who is surprised one night by the arrival of a manuscript. The book-to-be, written by her estranged ex-husband, Edward Sheffield (<strong>Jake<\/strong> <strong>Gyllenhaal<\/strong>), is also titled <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nocturnal Animals<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. As Susan reads, the film then depicts the story within.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Edward\u2019s novel follows Tony Hastings (also Gyllenhaal), a man who goes on a bender for revenge after his wife Laura (<strong>Isla Fisher<\/strong>) and daughter India (<strong>Ellie Bamber<\/strong>) are kidnapped, raped, and murdered by a sadistic trio of men whom they encounter on the road. Tony winds up killing the main assailant but also accidentally shoots himself afterward. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nocturnal Animals <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the film ends shortly after Susan finishes reading <em>Nocturnal Animals<\/em> the manuscript.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shaken by its horrific contents, yet moved by the skillful writing, Susan calls Edward and invites him to have dinner with her. Perhaps ready to finally forgive her for the infidelity that broke up their marriage, Edward accepts. Wearing a decadent green gown in an upscale restaurant, Susan waits hopefully for him. But as the cocktails proliferate and the diners come and go, Edward is nowhere to be seen. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And thus the film concludes with Susan expecting someone who will likely never arrive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are ultimately two plausible explanations for Edward\u2019s absence that night. The first theory, which is the less likely one, is that he is dead. Maybe he was killed in a tragic accident on the way to dinner, just like the character in his book. Or maybe he went so far as to kill himself in his final \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">gotcha!\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> moment, illustrating to Susan the agony she caused him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second theory is that Edward simply stood Susan up. But why would he do that? And why would this be a fitting ending for <em>Nocturnal Animals<\/em>, a film so jam-packed with action and drama? After all, compared to the rest of the film<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, this final scene is notably quiet, and, let\u2019s face it, anticlimactic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If there is one thing we have learned about Edward during the course of the film, it is that he has a deep understanding of what it really means to exact revenge. In his book, Tony\u2019s vengeance plays out against Laura and India\u2019s killer, Ray (<strong>Aaron Taylor-Johnson<\/strong>), in a satisfying bloody showdown. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, when Edward fails to show up at the restaurant at the end of <em>Nocturnal Animals<\/em>, it would be an underestimation of his character to assume that he was merely late, or caught up in some way. No: this is a man who knows exactly how to deliver an effective and long-lasting punch. And by igniting Susan\u2019s interest in him once again after a long marriage in which he was perceived as being weak, Edward finally has the upper hand and is able to hit her where it hurts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not only is Edward punishing Susan by standing her up, but as an author with such an intimate grasp on the nuances of revenge, he understands that for his ex-wife, he has sentenced her to a punishment worse than death. Susan is a deeply unhappy person. After Edward, she married Hutton Murrow (<strong>Armie<\/strong> <strong>Hammer<\/strong>), an affluent and aloof businessman, and presently she is trapped in a miserable and rapidly degenerating relationship with him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The film implies that, while they were together, Edward and Susan were very much in love, and she was deeply attracted to his creative disposition. But Susan\u2019s callous mother, Anne (<strong>Laura<\/strong> <strong>Linney<\/strong>), dissuaded her daughter from being with a struggling artist, and this attitude eventually rubbed off on Susan. When she left Edward for Hutton, Susan found herself bitter, depressed, and ultimately alone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, when she receives the manuscript, Susan suddenly feels as though she has a second chance at a fulfilling life. And, presumably, this is all part of Edward\u2019s sinister plan. When she is left alone at the restaurant at the end of <em>Nocturnal Animals<\/em>, Susan finally understands true rejection, the way her ex-husband had years ago. Her thoughts of fear and dissatisfaction always kept her up at night during her marriage, hence Edward crowning her a \u201cnocturnal animal.\u201d Now she will be kept awake wondering why he didn\u2019t show up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remember the rule that every good revenge story needs a triumphant hero? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, in this case, both the hero and the victim are one and the same. Not only was Edward horribly burned by Susan\u2019s mistreatment of him, but he has also continually been burned by society after being consistently told he\u2019s not good or strong enough. And so he wrote Tony, a semi-heroic vigilante, as an aspirational character. Then, when he leaves Susan sitting alone at the restaurant, he has finally become the sort of strong-willed character that he only previously dreamed to write up. But there is one critical difference: Edward doesn\u2019t wind up accidentally destroying himself as Tony does. He has truly emerged victorious.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps on a lesser scale, Susan is also a victim herself. A victim of a suffocating society that values careerism over love and forces once-caring people to decimate their personal relationships in the pursuit of capitalist success. Whatever motivates Susan, though, Edward surely sees her as a villain. And at the end of <em>Nocturnal Animals<\/em>, her punishment certainly fits the crime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Nocturnal Animals is currently <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/80113783\">streaming on Netflix<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/nocturnal-animals-ending-explained\/#utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=nocturnal-animals-ending-explained\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#The Ending of Nocturnal Animals Explained&#8221; Ending Explained is a recurring series in which we explore the finales, secrets, and themes of interesting movies and shows, both new and old. This time, we consider two possible explanations for the ambiguous ending of Tom Ford\u2019s Nocturnal Animals. Yes, prepare for spoilers. A good revenge story ultimately&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":294261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Nocturnal-Animals-Amy-Adams.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[47144,11682,9594,81834],"class_list":["post-294260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-amy-adams","tag-ending-explained","tag-jake-gyllenhaal","tag-nocturnal-animals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}