Friday, December 13, 2013

Nights in Rodanthe, (2008)


Nights in Rodanthe, (2008)

Synopsis: A modern melodramatic film about finding love where hope is lost. Paul, a surgeon who traded his family for his career and Adrienne a devoted mother who suffers from heartbreak by her husband’s infidelity struggles with whether to accept him back. Both meet while soul searching on a remote inn each turn to each other for comfort and strength in solving life’s at times unfair mysteries. Their meeting sets the stage for an unexpected romance in an unlikely time in their lives. 


Analysis
Characters Appearances + Mannerisms of (Adrienne) 



  When Adrienne is first introduced in the film, she is stressing trying to get her children ready for their trip. Her physical appearance is that of a mature woman, who doesn’t really have time for herself because of her time devoted to her children.
In the beginning of the film Adrienne shows her conflict with idealized femininity in that, when her husband comes back and asks for her to accept him back after his unfaithfulness, he tells her, “Adrienne I love you, I know what I lost and I’ll do anything in my power to get it back. As a woman Adrienne understands her lack of femininity due to her loss of reason to perform. He then tells her, “You know we are meant to be together, all you have to do is look at the children.” Adrienne’s
facial expression shows how she is questioning whether she should do it for the ‘children.’ Her wanting to sacrifice her happiness to be with this man, for the sake of the children is an idealized feminine trait which adheres to the notion that a woman must sacrifice as much as she can, to keep everyone around her happy. Adrienne’s performance in this beginning scene shows a woman whose happiness depends on the happiness of her children.
Adrienne decides to then go help her friend Jean out at her inn, to clear her mind and find some solace in what she should do. While she there she meets Paul, a man who keeps her distant. When she meets Paul she shows curiosity in him. By this time she also shows potential interest, her curiosity and interest in Paul leads her to her transformation as a woman. In the beginning of the film, she performs her idealized gender role through her devotion to her children, but when she meets Paul and grows an interest, her physical appearance changes and she starts wearing more feminine clothing such as a ‘pencil skirt and a tucked in collar shirt’ (Sound familiar?). As she is serving him his dinner she says with a smile, I’ll come back with your salad.” Her behavior has changed into a more subservient and domesticated one, and her appearance has changed into a more desired one.
As her interest in Paul continues to grow, her ability to master idealized femininity becomes more apparent. She finds a photo of Paul and his son and smiles. Her facial expression shows how she is envisioning Paul as a family man, which suits her lifestyle because of her nurturing family oriented nature.  As she talks with her friend Jean on the phone about Paul, when her friend asks is he handsome? She says, “I didn’t say that” But she becomes giggly and her performance almost becomes childlike and innocent. Her characteristics of idealized femininity is not only in her appearance which she readjusts to Paul's liking and also in her more domestic roles she has been playing at the inn. The last characteristic wish she shows is in her almost childlike manner whens he talks about Paul on the phone with her friend.
Adrienne’s complete transformation to mastering her idealized gender role, is when she returns home from her time at the inn, and returns to her children and a decision she has to make regarding her choice.Her children are angry and they seem to not understand and pressure her for her answer. She tells them, “I know this is hard for you to understand, all I can tell you is that I am still your mother...and I am not going anywhere.”She, for the sake of her own happiness is not going to get back with her husband for the sake of her children, and she has established that her role as their mother has not changed and, but her role as a woman has.
But this is not happy ending story for Adrienne, as she comes to terms with her new identity as a woman and mother and potential wife, Paul leaves her unexpectedly to figure himself out. Adrienne becomes heartbroken and reminisces on the past experiences she and Paul had, she remembers her transformation into his object of desire and her feeling of fulfillment when they were together. At the ending scenes of the film, her physical appearance as the object of his desire and of idealized femininity slowly revert back to her beginning state of when she found solace in her children. Her performance of idealized femininity is short lived, but the film emphasizes how her transformation was made possible by a ‘man.’

 Characters Appearances + Mannerisms of (Dr, Paul) 
When Paul is first introduced in the film, we see a man who is distant and reserved, possibly suffering from his own trauma. His physical appearance is that of a mature, tall and slender man. When he is first greeted at the inn by Adrienne, she mentions about the bad weather they may be having, and he tells her, “I heard something about that, it doesn’t matter,” his performance of idealized masculinity is done through his cold, emotionless exterior to Adrienne. Paul shows some interest in Adrienne after having dinner with her, her physical appearance is something of his liking. They drink and he asks, “If you’re not Jean who are you.” The alcohol helps Paul open up about his past and her family experience.
As the film progresses we see Paul drinking more wine, he says, “It’s the wine its making me go blah blah,”Paul’s performance of idealized masculinity is when Adrienne not only shows interest in Paul, but when the alcohol makes it possible for Paul to forget about his troubles and have an interest in Adrienne. Near the end of the film as Paul visit comes to an end, Paul realizes that even Adrienne cannot help him overcome his own troubles which enable him to fully master his
idealized masculinity. He leaves Adrienne with a note expressing how wonderful the time they spent together was and that he had gone to ‘find himself.’