They briefly discuss movie writing and arrange a second meeting later in the day. While in the men's room, Barton meets the novelist William Preston (W.P.) "Bill" Mayhew, who is vomiting in the next stall. Irritated, the frenetic Geisler takes him to lunch and orders him to consult another writer for assistance. Still unable to proceed beyond the first lines of his script, Barton consults producer Ben Geisler for advice. Later, Barton falls asleep, but is awakened by the incessant whine of a mosquito. As they talk, Barton proclaims his affection for "the common man", and Charlie describes his life as an insurance salesman. His neighbor, Charlie Meadows, is the source of the noise and visits Barton to apologize, insisting on sharing some alcohol from a hip flask to make amends. He is distracted by sounds coming from the room next door, and he phones the front desk to complain. Back in his room, however, Barton is unable to write. Lipnick promises that his only concern is Barton's writing ability and assigns his new employee to a wrestling film. In his first meeting with Capitol Pictures boss Jack Lipnick, Barton explains that he chose the Earle because he wants lodging that is (as Lipnick says) "less Hollywood". His room is sparse and draped in subdued colors its only decoration is a small painting of a woman on the beach, arm raised to block the sun. He accepts the offer, however, and checks into the Hotel Earle, a large and unusually deserted building. Barton hesitates, worried that moving to California would separate him from "the common man", his focus as a writer. His agent informs him that Capitol Pictures in Hollywood has offered him a thousand dollars per week to write film scripts. In 1941, Barton Fink's first Broadway play, Bare Ruined Choirs, has achieved critical and popular success. Despite disagreement over certain details of the work, Barton Fink continues to be positively received, with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman among its admirers. Several features of the film's narrative, particularly an image of a woman at the beach which recurs throughout, have sparked much commentary, with the Coens acknowledging some intentional symbolic elements while denying an attempt to communicate any single message in the film. Mayhew are often seen as fictional representations. It contains various literary allusions and religious overtones, as well as references to many real-life people and events – most notably the writers Clifford Odets and William Faulkner, of whom the characters of Barton Fink and W. The diverse elements of the film have led it to defy efforts at genre classification, with the work being variously referred to as a film noir, a horror film, a Künstlerroman, and a buddy film. Prominent themes of Barton Fink include the writing process slavery and conditions of labor in creative industries superficial distinctions between high culture and low culture and the relationship of intellectuals with "the common man". Although the film was a box office bomb, only grossing $6 million against its $9 million budget, it received positive reviews and was nominated for three Academy Awards. In a rare sweep, it won the Palme d'Or, as well as awards for Best Director and Best Actor (Turturro). The film is influenced by works of several earlier directors, particularly Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965) and The Tenant (1976).īarton Fink had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1991. They began filming the former soon after Miller's Crossing was finished. As Joel Coen stated in an interview about the film, they were "aiming for a logic of the irrational.The Coens wrote the screenplay for Barton Fink in three weeks while experiencing difficulty during the writing of Miller's Crossing. Now, in the final scene, he sees another example of "low art" come magically, effortlessly to life before his very eyes. Fink has spent the whole movie painfully trying to breathe life into something he considers beneath him, eventually turning it into his idea of art, only to have it comprehensively trashed by Lipnick. That final exchange has a pun-like quality - "are you in pictures?" - and any meaning is undoubtedly ironic. He has a brief, awkward conversation with a young woman, who settles into a pose identical to that of the hotel picture. As Fink stares at the image, he hears the ocean in his mind.Īt the end, after Charlie's hellish return to the hotel and Lipnick blowing Fink's screenplay out of the water, he wanders along a beach with the box. She sits with her back to the camera, apparently gazing out to sea. Earlier in the film, the sole bright spot in Fink's drab hotel room is a corny old picture of a woman sitting on a beach.
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