The Squid and the Whale **** (2005, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney) – Classic Movie Review 2811

Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline star as two brothers forced to deal with the divorce of their parents Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney in Brooklyn in the 1980s in writer-director Noah Baumbach‘s poignant and amusing bitter-sweet comedy drama masterwork.

Feeling the split deeply, the teenager Walt (Eisenberg) and the boy Frank (Kline) take different sides, with Walt stays with university professor Bernard and Frank with prominent writer Joan. Walt breaks up with his girlfriend Sophie (Halley Feiffer), while Joan has an affair with Frank’s tennis teacher Ivan (William Baldwin) and Bernard with his student Lili (Anna Paquin). 

David Benger, Adam Rose, Henry Glovinsky, Eli Gelb, Peggy Gormley and Peter Newman are also in the cast.

Owen Kline is the son of Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates.

Paquin, who plays love interest to Daniels here, played his daughter in Fly Away Home (1996). Daniels says about their intimate scenes: ‘We tried not to think about…you know, geese.’

The title refers to a prized display of a giant squid fighting a whale at the American Museum of Natural History, which appears in the final shot of the film.

Bernard gets the rejection letter from International Creative Management, the real-life agency of Daniels (who plays Bernard) and Linney. Linney was given the script by Baumbach’s friend Eric Stoltz in 2000 while they were filming The House of Mirth and agreed to do it immediately.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2811

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