close



The Good Night



cast :

Martin Freeman, Simon Pegg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Penelope Cruz, Danny DeVito

crew :

Directed By: Jake Paltrow
Written By: Jake Paltrow
Produced By: Donna Gigliotti and William J. Johnson
DOP: Giles Nuttgens
Editor: Rick Lawley
Music Score By: Alec Puro

release date :

2007

‘The Good Night’ (2007) is a romantic comedy from writer/director Jake Paltrow. Starring his sister Gwyneth, along with Martin Freeman, Simon Pegg and Penelope Cruz, it focuses on a former pop star who is experiencing the pain and pleasures of lucid dreams involving his ideal-fantasy woman.


After being part of the successful pop group ‘On the One’, Gary (Martin Freeman) is now reluctantly writing commercial jingles for his former band mate Paul (Simon Pegg). His dull relationship with Dora (Gwyneth Paltrow) has seemingly run its course, and everyday just seems like a waste of time. His only escape from his worn-out life is when he is asleep – where he is free to infatuate about a woman who, to him, resembles perfection. What develops is many attempts to remain asleep for longer periods – soundproofing his apartment, sleeping pills etc…, in order to prolong his fantasy and to gain further insight into why he’s having these lucid visions. Meanwhile in reality, his enthusiasm for his job and relationship with Dora are placed on the backburner as he begins to research books and attend dream classes taught by eccentric lucid dreaming enthusiast, Mel (Danny DeVito). As Gary becomes more and more separate from reality, he eventually discovers that his dream woman does, in fact, exist. On being introduced to her he naively discovers she is not the same woman he’s dreamt about and, in turn, fails to meet up to his expectations. With this disappointment, Gary realises how much he has betrayed Dora and attempts to win her back.


With its focus on dreams and the idealistic realities they come to represent, ‘The Good Night’ is a lot deeper than your average rom-com and, thanks to a star-studded line-up from both sides of the Atlantic, is both amusing and entertaining. The dream sequences portrayed on screen are well presented although they do differ from previous, more surreal perceptions associated with the unconscious thought. The fact that Gary’s dreams portray a rational utopian world, film logic states they must do so in an ‘un-surreal,’ almost ‘ordinary-like’, manner whereas nightmares or anything to do with confused visions of hell, tends to be a more surreal and frightening experience.


When you think of dreams portrayed on screen, obvious cinematic experiences come to mind: ‘Spellbound’ (Alfred Hitchcock/Salvador Dali – 1945); ‘Wild Strawberries’ (Ingmar Bergman – 1957); ‘Eraserhead’ (David Lynch – 1977); ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ (Wes Craven – 1984) and ‘Terminator 2’ (James Cameron – 1991). All these films share many common themes: horror/fantasy/dystopia, and are all best remembered for delivering extraordinary, surreal-like sequences.


The core elements that determine a dark dream sequence on screen tend to include nightfall; a mixture of slow-motion and immediate movement; eerie music and panic. A nightmare sequence will interlude with the main story and provide further insight into a character’s terrified and fragile state of mind. Many films have included such a series of events in order to either provide important information integral to the plot, (the nightmarish visions of the future in Cameron’s ‘The Terminator’ – 1984), or to fulfil artistic creativity on behalf of the director (James Stewart’s bizarre dreams as seen in Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ – 1958). Each time, a nightmare tends to receive more praise and attention to that of its calmer, more ‘pleasant’, counterpart – the ‘ordinary’ dream, but over cinematic history, and in particular ‘The Good Night’, ‘enjoyable/fantasy’ dreams are beginning to take shape.


Perhaps the closest example of the dreams depicted in ‘The Good Night’ can be taken from Sam Mendes’ ‘American Beauty’ (1999). In it, Kevin Spacey’s character is also going through a mid-life crisis and whose only escape is through erotic dreams about a teenage cheerleader. These visions are similar to Gary’s in ‘The Good Night’ as they both centre on escapism and new-found fulfilment which breathes new life into each character’s seemingly mundane existence. In ‘American Beauty’ its dreams may lean slightly towards a more surreal, if somewhat, dream-like refuge, (the inclusion of the rose petals et. al) but both films’ sequences offer an intriguing insight into the male psyche aroused by the female form and, in turn, further strengthens their place alongside nightmares on the big screen.


Gary’s dreams in ‘The Good Night’ occur from the lack of romance and pleasure running throughout his life. After an argument about Gary’s career, the couple reluctantly get ready for bed to which both offer weak apologies after turning out the lights. As Gary falls asleep, we, like him, are taken to a haven of perfection. In his opening dream, Gary experiences a new feeling of excitement – as if falling in love for the first time. Taking place in early morning, we see Gary standing in the grounds of an expensive house. The sounds of birds chirping offer support to a ‘Twin Peaks’ style soundtrack. Slowly, and all dressed in white, Gary’s dream woman Anna (Penelope Cruz) enters the frame in a seemingly angle-like fashion. He speaks. She answers only in thought (her dialogue is provided by subtitles). ‘I think you look perfect’ she states. Suddenly he wakes up. He is extremely annoyed and now must reenlist back into his old, worthless self. But, to Gary, this was no normal dream – this seems to have reignited something inside him. This is what he has been searching for – a sense of happiness and recognition in a world where only he matters.


With his new-found, all be it, confused zest for life, Gary wants to find out more. When awake all he can think of is her. In his second dream, we find Anna stood on a beach once again at dawn. ‘Can you tell me your name?’ asks Gary. This time she answers him in backwards whispering. This, accompanied with her silent thoughts in his first dream, seems very strange indeed. Yet for Gary he simply accepts her methods of communication – as if she were speaking normally to him out loud. It is not until in later dreams that Anna communicates in normal, English dialect – presumably, signifying Gary’s progression in understanding his visions.


Although quite similar to ‘American Beauty’s’ dream sequences, Gary’s dreams in ‘The Good Night’ seems to raise more questions than answers. Whereas Spacey’s character clearly understands why he is having these erotic visions, Gary is somewhat confused as to who this woman is at all. We, and him, both know why he is dreaming about her (because he is unhappy) – but not why specifically her. Has he seen her before? The film eventually reveals she does exist, all be it differently, as a model appearing on billboards and buses throughout the city. Is Gary subconsciously under the powerful spell of advertising executives who parade this beautiful woman in order to slip their product into the minds of unsuspecting consumers? – quite possibly.


With this in mind, it can explain why Gary’s dreams seem more real on screen. If you were to take a still shot from one of the dream sequences in both ‘The Good Night’ and ‘American Beauty’ you would, more often than not, be able to identify that the latter is in fact taken from a dream being portrayed on screen. Visually, ‘American Beauty’s’ dreams appear more dreamlike as they, unlike ‘The Good Night’, consist more of slow-motion, extreme lighting and smoke/mist etc… Gary’s dreams however, apart from their unfamiliar dialect early on, appear visually sound and in fact resemble ordinary life.


As lucid dreams are all about visions in which people are aware that their dream is in progression, ‘The Good Night’ portrays this activity with a strong stance towards consumerism and manipulation in society. The fact that images and messages we see in real life can be easily soaked up by each and every one, and then re-appear in our dreams, is all part of the society we live in. Gary is a classic portrait of a male going through a mid-life crisis. Just like Spacey’s Lester Burnham in ‘American Beauty’, Gary eventually re-discovers his love for the life he already led. Whether its visions of the perfect woman, buying fast cars, or even smoking dope, wanting to live in a material world is, according to ‘The Good Night’ (and ‘American Beauty’), down to lack of direction brought on by consumerism which inflicts ideal images to which we believe to be the norm.


For a seemingly romantic comedy this is all pretty heavy stuff – but it works well. However, if the ‘The Good Night’ had dealt with nightmares it would have been difficult to see how that would have worked given the actors on offer (Freeman and Pegg perhaps would struggle to adapt to darker, more edgier roles due to their respective comedy backgrounds). But what is certain is that dreams portrayed on screen – whether horrific or lucid, still manage to offer an intriguing and entertaining insight into the psychological state of a characters’ mind. Also as discussed, in ‘The Good Night’, dreams can shine a light upon the state of a society and the presumably perfect ideology it expects us to live by and be a part of.


Watch


Country: UK/US
Budget:
Length: 90mins


Filmography:
‘American Beauty’, 1999, Sam Mendes, DreamWorks SKG
‘Vertigo’, 1958, Alfred Hitchcock, Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions
‘The Terminator’, 1984, James Cameron, Hemdale Film
‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’, 1991, James Cameron, Carolco Pictures
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’, 1984, Wes Craven, New Line Cinema
‘Eraserhead’, 1977, David Lynch, American Film Institute (AFI)
‘Wild Strawberries’, 1957, Ingmar Bergman, Svensk Filmindustri (SF)
‘Spellbound’, 1945, Alfred Hitchcock/Salvador Dali, Vanguard Films


Pub/2008


More like this:
Lost In Translation, 2004, directed by Sofia Coppola
KM31, 2006, directed by Rigoberto Castañeda
Irma Vep, 1996, directed by Olivier Assayas