“When we walked home afterwards we spoke for about 45 minutes about what this film actually was about. There was just a lot of symbolism and things that we thought were typical, especially the end of the film.” – Egon
“Which film are you talking about?” – Feargal
“Nocturnal Animals from Tom Ford, that new one. He is actually a fashion designer who also makes films in Hollywood. Before that we saw another of Tom Ford’s films to prepare ourselves.” – Egon
“Yes, that was lonely man or known man? No, A single man.” – Noëme
“Nocturnal Animals was about these typical things, like the relationship between him and her in the beginning and that he was so notably cold to her and the business trips and the women that he was with in hotels and that he was way younger than her and then something happened in the end. Like he asks her to meet up at a restaurant and that is the ex husband that she eventually split up with. Before that she received the script of a book from him and she reads it. That book represents the second story in the film, because you see her life, but also the story that is told in the book and sometimes they intertwine a lot. Some scenes transition with each other so well that you end up not knowing in which story you currently are. At the end of the film when she finished the book, she receives an e-mail or did she send him an e-mail? I don’t remember that exactly, but in any case it comes down to him asking to meet up. When she goes to the restaurant she ends up having to wait for him for a very long time. This raises the question if he tried to make her pay because she heartlessly stood him up a long time ago, but this does not become clear at the end so you really have to guess.” – Egon
“A lot of the things in this film made us discuss the film, because we were like, uhm, what? Why? And what does all of this mean? Was there a parallel in between any of it? Other than that I thought it was very sad and this film is super beautiful, but so sad somewhere and at times I thought it had something scary and compelling.” – Noëme
“This film leaves so many impressions with you.”- Egon
“Yes, because it all came out so forcefully.” – Noëme
“Yeah, because Tom Ford makes it so that the shots are really, well beautiful is not even the right word for it, these shots are just so fascinating and so sharp and gorgeous, just wow. He is known for that and you basically go through a rollercoaster ride of feelings. Not only in the sense of what he mentally does to you during the film, but also visually that it just let’s you go. So, if it is up to me this film had it all.” – Egon
“We did not see anything recognizable in this film per se, maybe now, because they were talking a lot about living together and having kids and that sort of stuff. That parallel does exist now, but not back then, but I think that is actually what drove the two characters apart and that is why the main characters ended it.” – Egon
“Because he wanted kids. I thought it was recognizable how as a woman you begin to think about what is important for you, career, what kind of man, a reliable person who goes all the way for you or an exciting man?” – Noëme
“Oh wait, I remember why it went wrong it was really bad.” – Egon
“He did not have enough money?” – Noeme
“No, she was pregnant and she had an abortion, while he did not know about it and she went to the abortion clinic with the guy who she married after him and she choose this guy over him. You never see when she chooses this guy, but you do see where it goes wrong between them that was a gigantic moment.” – Egon
“Oh yes that is true, because it is also about how their daughter in the book is killed. And that is when we began to ask ourselves, wait have you seen the film before?” – Noëme
“No, I haven’t.” – Feargal
“Oh, then I’d really recommend you to watch this film.” – Noëme
“We shouldn’t be telling you too much, because you really need to see this film. This is seriously in the past two to three years one of the best films that I have seen.” – Egon
“How long did you know each other when you watched this film?” – Feargal
“Two months?” – Egon
“Before we went to South Africa? We weren’t official yet back then.” – Noëme
“It is extra fun that we spoke a lot about this film aftwards, because you really get to know each other. I think it is special that you start to wonder how she thinks about the same film.” – Egon
Photo and story by Feargal Agard.
