The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Genre

Comedy | Drama

Director

Noah Baumbach

Country

United States

Cast

Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, Anna Paquin, William Baldwin, Halley Feiffer, David Benger, Adam Rose, Peter Newman, Peggy Gormley, Greta Kline

Plot

Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels), once a successful author, had to fall back on teaching for the good of his family.

When his wife, Joan (Laura Linney),  has begun publishing her own work, which increases the tension between them, divorce seems the only possible solution. 

To suffer the consequences will be their two sons, Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and Frank (Owen Kline), a child who drowns his sorrows in alcohol.

Opinion

The Squid and the Whale is a great film. The story takes place in Brooklyn (New York) in 1985 but it could be anywhere, in any year. Loved the comparison between the battle between the squid and the whale (seen in the museum by Walt when he was a kid) and the parents divorce: you suffer more intensely when you are watching the battle and you can't cover your eyes with your hands.