wakefield

Director: robin swicord

Actor: bryan cranston,jennifer garner,victoria bruno,ellery sprayberry

Data Published: Fri May 19 2017

Genres: Drama

Key Words: title directed by female,title co written by female,husband wife relationship,nervous breakdown,attic

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5195412/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakefield_(film)

Description: Wakefield is a movie starring Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Garner, and Victoria Bruno. Bryan Cranston gives the performance of a lifetime as Howard Wakefield, a lawyer on the edge of madness who has decided to disassociate himself from...

Plot: The story is told from the point of view of Howard Wakefield, through narration that reveals his evolving emotional state. A successful attorney in New York City, he is unhappy in his marriage of 15 years to Diana, a beautiful art curator and former dancer. They used to use flirtation with other people to add excitement to their sex life, but she soon begins to resent it. One night, Howard returns home late from his commute by train and is distracted by a raccoon he sees entering his garage, which is detached from the house. He chases the raccoon into the garage's attic, where he realizes he has a perfect view into his home, where his wife and two daughters, Taylor and Giselle, are eating dinner. He ignores calls from his wife and is amused at her clear annoyance, but is insulted when she angrily throws his plate of dinner away instead of saving it for him. To avoid a fight, he decides to wait a bit to go into the house, but he ends up falling asleep. The next morning, Howard realizes Diana will never believe his story of spending the night in the garage and will insist he was having an affair, so he plans to wait for her to leave for work before going in. Instead, he is shocked when, after finding his car still in the garage, she calls the police to report him missing. Howard feels bad when he sees Diana cry, but before he can go inside, his overbearing mother-in-law, Babs, shows up to comfort her. Babs appears to be saying that Howard has run off while Diana apparently defends him, showing her there is no evidence he has taken any money. Diana then leaves for work and Howard finally goes inside and showers, planning to just deal with the fallout of his absence, before he starts resenting the idea that his wife would still go to work after his disappearance. It then dawns on him that his disappearance is probably a relief to her, and that she probably thinks that she married the wrong man. He cleans up any evidence that he was inside the house, grabs some food from the pantry and returns to the garage. Howard is overjoyed with abandoning all his responsibilities and amused that people would surely suspect his wife's involvement in his disappearance, just as he is amused at seeing her tackle the chores that used to be his responsibility. He feels unshackled and free as he spends his time doing puzzles, reading and observing his family and their neighbors. He also happily realizes that he is seeing more of his daughters' lives than he did before. For the first few days, he continues to sneak food and amenities from his house. He soon realizes that he no longer cares about having clients and being freshly showered and shaved, and vows not to take anything from his old life or spend the money he has in his wallet. He begins foraging each night through the trash and showers in the backyard bathroom built by his neighbor, Dr. Sondervan, who runs a small home for mentally disabled youth. As months go by and he grows a beard and long hair, Howard is free to walk about town during the day, where people dismiss him as homeless. The only people who discover his presence are Herbert and Emily, two of Dr. Sondervan's residents, who follow him back to the attic one day. He reflects on the beginning of his relationship with Diana, whom he met when she was dating his best friend Dirk Morrison, an extremely competitive Wall Street trader. Through manipulation and dishonesty, Howard managed to take Diana away from Dirk, and as he thinks back, Howard wonders if he ever truly loved her. Nevertheless, he realizes that by simply disappearing, he has the upper hand in controlling her love life. If he had just divorced her, she would be free to date other men, but while he is missing under mysterious circumstances, she can't easily move on to another man. As summer turns into fall, Howard no longer basks in his freedom but instead feels like he has become a prisoner of his choices. He has an epiphany and realizes that the old Howard had been a selfish, jealous and resentful husband and father, who made himself out to be a victim. While he feels happy to be free from himself, he also feels that his family is happier without him. He also realizes that he has never loved Diana more and one day, he walks out onto the sidewalk, but Diana doesn't recognize him. Diana appears to be developing a romantic relationship, and Howard is stunned when he sees it is with Dirk Morrison. Howard surmises that Dirk would have probably told Diana the lies he had said that broke them up years ago. He decides to give Diana an honest chance this time to pick with whom she wants to be. After getting himself cleaned up and buying a new suit, Howard works up the courage to walk back into his house. As he sees his wife and daughters decorating the Christmas tree, he envisions them being overjoyed at his return, and also envisions a second scenario in which they respond with horror. He pauses, and then comes in through the front door and announces, "I'm home."