The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

My wife and I saw this movie about 3 weeks or so ago. I was quite impressed with it, although my wife had to help me with the plot in a few places.

I haven't read the book.

It is not a book but a short story probably only about five pages long. I read it in a compendium of Fitzgerald's short stories. He actually only wrote 4 novels, and two novellas. Most of his work appeared in weekly magazines primarily the Saturday Evening Post and Colliers.

So, what did you want to discuss about the movie?

Since I have not seen the movie I wanted to know if it followed the original story and if it was comedic or drama. The story started with the birth of Benjamin and the horror his father experienced at the dilemma of having a 70+ year old baby. And ends with poor Benjamin dying of youth in his infancy. How was this plot portrayed and did it seem realistic at all. Was there anything in the movie that portrayed the angst between old age and youth.

It was definitely a drama. Quite sad in parts, although it did have some touches of humour in it.

The plot is portrayed in the same manner as you have stated, in that order. I thought it was quite realistic, albeit hard to conceive of an "old baby". This was handled by him having some quite of aging disease. I forget the name of it, but I believe something like it actually exists.

In the movie, Benjamin reconciled with his father and became close.

As far as the play between young and old age, I guess there was some of that.

In the end, the clock finally gets dismantled.

I enjoyed the movie, but I haven't read the story, so I don't know whether to recommend the movie to you. Both my wife and I thought it was quite worthwhile and well-acted. The plot moved well, although it is a long movie. I think it was something like 2.45 hours.

If you do decide to see it, let me know how you liked it.

Thank you Reyn from what you have said it sounds close to the story. I will see the movie this week. From what you have said and from what I have read about Fitzgerald this seems to be a timely metaphor since the story was written in the 1920 and in a sense reflects our society after WW1 and prior to the jazz age, prohibition, and the great depression, and back again? Just and idea.

Great! Look forward to your report.

Hey, Tilley, have you seen the movie yet?

Yes I have, sorry I left you in the lurch. Besides being quite long, to long I think. They still managed to leave a lot of stuff out. In the written story I believe I detected more of a Fitzgerald gaze as a somewhat corrupt society where appearances mattered more than content and money more than anything else. And especially the story delved into excess of the 20s which could be relevant to the 21st century as well. I just do not think these issues were as obvious in the movie as in the book.

Yes, the movie was quite long, but not horribly so.

Did you enjoy it (even though it varied somewhat from the book) and feel it worthwhile?

I finally saw this a few days ago and took it to be a fantasy (his life) within a drama. I liked it but wasn't as bowled over as expected. But I'm particularly fascinated with "The Making of..." aspect of it. How many actors portrayed Benjamin in his "youth" and when did Brad Pitt actually take over the role?

Well, I can partially answer your first question by this info:

Wiki entry


entertainment.timesonline

I liked it. The tie-in to Katrina was a bit forced but I liked it overall.