The Squid and the Whale

Genre: Drama

Worldwide gross$11.1M

In 1986, In Brooklyn, New York, the dysfunctional family of pseudo intellectuals composed by the university professor Bernard and the prominent writer Joan split. Bernard is a selfish, cheap and jealous decadent writer that rationalizes every attitude in his family and life and does not accept "philistines" - people that do not read books or watch movies, while the unfaithful Joan is growing as a writer and has no problems with "philistines". Their sons, the teenager Walt and the boy Frank, feel the separation and take side: Walt stays with Bernard, and Frank with Joan, and both are affected with abnormal behaviors. Frank drinks booze and smears with sperm the books in the library and a locker in the dress room of his school. The messed-up and insecure Walt uses Roger Water's song "Hey You" in a festival as if it was of his own, and breaks up with his girlfriend Sophie. Meanwhile Joan has an affair with Frank's tennis teacher Ivan and Bernard with his student Lili.

🏆 Nominated for 1 Oscar. 23 wins & 49 nominations total

Genres

Comedy, Drama

Director

Noah Baumbach

Cast

Owen Kline, Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney

Released

16 December 2005

Runtime

1h 21m

Certificate

R

IMDb rating

7.3 / 10

Votes

93,653

Metascore

82

Rotten Tomatoes

91%

Box office

$7,372,734

Budget

$1,500,000

Edition

Base