The Man Who Wasn't There
Directed by	Joel Coen
Produced by	Ethan Coen
Written by	Joel Coen Ethan Coen
Starring	Billy Bob Thornton Frances McDormand James Gandolfini Tony Shalhoub Scarlett Johansson Jon Polito Michael Badalucco
Release date(s)	2001
Running time	118 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$20,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

For other uses, see The Man Who Wasn't There (disambiguation).

The Man Who Wasn't There is a 2001 Neo-noir film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Billy Bob Thornton stars in the title role. Also featured are James Gandolfini, Tony Shalhoub, Scarlett Johansson, and Coen regulars Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco, and Jon Polito. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (680x954, 149 KB)The Man Who Wasnt There film poster File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly called The Coen Brothers in the film business, are United States directors best known for their quirky comedies like Fargo and Raising Arizona; the brothers write their own scripts and alternate top billing for the screenplay. ... Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly called The Coen Brothers in the film business, are United States directors best known for their quirky comedies like Fargo and Raising Arizona; the brothers write their own scripts and alternate top billing for the screenplay. ... Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly called The Coen Brothers in the film business, are United States directors best known for their quirky comedies like Fargo and Raising Arizona; the brothers write their own scripts and alternate top billing for the screenplay. ... Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly called The Coen Brothers in the film business, are United States directors best known for their quirky comedies like Fargo and Raising Arizona; the brothers write their own scripts and alternate top billing for the screenplay. ... Billy Bob Thornton (born William Robert Thornton on August 4, 1955) is an Academy Award-winning American screenwriter, actor, and also an occasional director, playwright and singer. ... McDormand in a promotional photo for The Man Who Wasnt There (2001) Frances McDormand (born June 23, 1957) is an Academy Award-winning American film, stage, and television actress. ... James R. Gandolfini as Tony Soprano James R. Gandolfini (born September 18, 1961) is an American actor. ... Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk Tony Shalhoub (born October 9, 1953 in Green Bay, Wisconsin), an American actor, is currently the star and executive producer of the USA Network television show Monk in which he plays an obsessive compulsive private detective who is often called on by the San Francisco... Scarlett Johansson (born November 22, 1984) is an American film actress. ... Jon Polito (born December 29, 1950) is an American actor, best known for working with the Coen Brothers. ... Michael Badalucco (born December 20, 1954) is an American actor most famous for his role as lawyer Jimmy Berluti on the ABC legal drama The Practice. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... The Man Who Wasnt There is the title of several films: The Man Who Wasnt There (2001), starring Billy Bob Thornton, and written and directed by the Coen brothers The Man Who Wasnt There (1983), starring Steve Guttenberg The Man Who Wasnt There (Lhomme qui... Neo-noir is a term given to the modern trend of incorporating aspects of film noir into films of other genres. ... Joel and Ethan Coen at Cannes 2001 Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly known as The Coen Brothers have written and directed numerous successful films, such as comedies O Brother Where Art Thou, Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, as well as darker film noir dramas such as Fargo, Millers... Billy Bob Thornton (born William Robert Thornton on August 4, 1955) is an Academy Award-winning American screenwriter, actor, and also an occasional director, playwright and singer. ... James R. Gandolfini as Tony Soprano James R. Gandolfini (born September 18, 1961) is an American actor. ... Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk Tony Shalhoub (born October 9, 1953 in Green Bay, Wisconsin), an American actor, is currently the star and executive producer of the USA Network television show Monk in which he plays an obsessive compulsive private detective who is often called on by the San Francisco... Scarlett Johansson (born November 22, 1984) is an American film actress. ... McDormand in a promotional photo for The Man Who Wasnt There (2001) Frances McDormand (born June 23, 1957) is an Academy Award-winning American film, stage, and television actress. ... Michael Badalucco (born December 20, 1954) is an American actor most famous for his role as lawyer Jimmy Berluti on the ABC legal drama The Practice. ... Jon Polito (born December 29, 1950) is an American actor, best known for working with the Coen Brothers. ...

Analysis

The film was inspired by a poster that the Coen brothers saw while filming The Hudsucker Proxy; the poster showed various haircuts from the 1940s. The story takes place in 1949 and, Joel Coen admits, is "heavily influenced by" the work of James M. Cain, a pulp fiction writer most known for the stories for Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Mildred Pierce. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) is a screwball comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, telling a fictitious story about the invention of the hula hoop. ... // Events and trends World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atomic bomb. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... James Mallahan Cain (July 1, 1892 – October 27, 1977) was an American journalist and novelist. ... Flynns Detective Fiction from 1941. ... Double Indemnity is a 1944 film noir. ... The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1934 crime novel by James M. Cain. ... For other uses, see Mildred Pierce (disambiguation). ...

There is also a resemblance in the basic plot, as well as certain details, found in Albert Camus' existential novel The Stranger (published in Britain as The Outsider). Albert Camus (pronounced ) (November 7, 1913 – January 4, 1960) was a Algerian-French author and philosopher. ... The Stranger, or The Outsider, (from the French L’Étranger, 1942) is a novel by Albert Camus. ...

The cinematography done by Roger Deakins is straightforward and traditional. Most shots are made with the camera at eye level, with normal lensing and a long depth of focus. The lighting is textbook, with the usual sort of quarter-light setup. The cinematography, combined with the consistent, accurate use of 1950s props and sets, could make even a careful viewer think the film was made 50 years ago. When Ed appears onscreen, he is almost always shown smoking an unfiltered cigarette, another detail true to the era in which the film is set. Cinematography, English render of the French cimématographie, is the discipline of making lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema. ... Roger Deakins (born May 24, 1949 Torquay, Devon, England) is a cinematographer. ... Depth of focus is a lens optics concept regarding the tolerance of placement of the plane of film in relation to the rear element of the lens. ... The 1950s was the decade spanning the years 1950 to 1959. ... A lit cigarette will burn to ash on one end. ...

The film contains several mentions of UFOs throughout, in dreams and in conversation, as well as in various props, including an ashtray. A UFO or Unidentified Flying Object is any real or apparent flying object which cannot be identified by the observer and which remains unidentified after investigation. ... A dream is the experience of envisioned images, voices, or other sensations during sleep. ...

The story

All of the action takes place in and around Santa Rosa, California in approximately 1949, and gets much of its period feel from being filmed in black and white. The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center Luther Burbank Gardens, part of California Historical Landmark No. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ...

Ed Crane (Thornton), a suburban barber, is married to Doris (McDormand), a bookkeeper with a drinking problem. Ed is taciturn and mellow; he says little to the people around him and typically reacts with no more than a nod, even when witnessing outlandish events. Ed provides the film's narration, starting off by explaining that he married into the barber business. His coworker and brother-in-law Frank (Badalucco) owns the barbershop, and talks incessantly. Boy Meets Barber For other uses, see Barber (disambiguation). ... Accountancy (British English) or accounting (American English) is the process of maintaining, auditing, and processing financial information for business purposes. ... Look up Brother-in-law in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A brother-in-law is your: 1. ...

Ed's wife works at Nirdlinger's, a local department store hoping to franchise. While at work one day, Ed encounters Creighton Tolliver (Polito), a businessman looking for investors in a new technology called dry cleaning. [Here the brothers exhibit their frequent indifference to historical accuracy as dry cleaning is quite ancient; the first dry cleaning shop in the US opened in 1879.] Ed wants to make some money and move up in station, so he goes to the man's hotel room to talk about it. After rebuffing a pass, Ed decides he wants to invest; Tolliver is referred to throughout the rest of the film as "the pansy." Ed anonymously blackmails his wife's boss and lover "Big Dave" Brewster (Gandolfini) for the $10,000 needed to invest. Big Dave delivers the money without seeing Ed make the pick-up. The interior of a typical Macys department store. ... – This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... For other uses, see Blackmail (disambiguation). ...

In the noir tradition, from that point forward, nothing goes right.

Ed delivers the money to Tolliver, who subsequently disappears, leaving Ed to believe that he has been scammed. Meanwhile, Doris's alcoholism and his alienation from her are both apparent. After returning from a relative's wedding, Ed gets a call from Big Dave, who wants Ed to meet him at Nirdlinger's. Tolliver had also approached Brewster, asking him for $10,000. Thinking it too much of a coincidence that he was asked for the same sum of money he was blackmailed for, Brewster tracked the man down and beat a confession out of him. Enraged that he approached Ed for consolation about being blackmailed, and that Ed told him to pay the money, Brewster attacks Ed and begins to strangle him. Ed stabs him in the neck with a cigar cutter and Brewster dies. Ed goes home, where his wife is passed out still from her drinks at the wedding. He sits beside her, thinking about how they met. Alcoholism is the consumption of, or preoccupation with, alcoholic beverages to the extent that this behavior interferes with the drinkers normal personal, family, social, or work life, and may lead to physical or mental harm. ...

Shortly thereafter, Doris is arrested for the murder of Big Dave. The police have examined Nirdlinger's books, discovered several irregularities, and suspect Doris because she kept the books. Ed's brother-in-law mortgages the barbershop to pay for the best lawyer available, Freddy Riedenschneider (Shalhoub). In a conference with Riedenschneider and Ed's wife, Ed tells Riedenschnedier that he killed Nirdlinger, but the lawyer thinks Ed is simply covering for his wife and that the story would never stand up in court since their only alibi is each other. He works out an elaborate plan for Doris's defense, involving the uncertainty principle and various other tangents, all bizarre if not ingenious. On the day the trial is to start, Doris is late, and so is the judge. When the judge arrives, he calls the counsel to the bench and dismisses the case. Doris has committed suicide. For alibi used in the sense of a legal defense, see the Wiktionary entry Alibi. ... In quantum physics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle or the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle — the latter name given to it by Niels Bohr — states that one cannot measure values (with arbitrary precision) of certain conjugate quantities, which are pairs of observables of a single elementary particle. ... A judge or justice is an official who presides over a court. ... Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending ones own life. ...

Ed visits Birdy Abundas (Johansson), a friend's teenage daughter. The girl is a pianist; Ed wants to pay for her to have lessons. Driving her back from an unsuccessful attempt to impress a piano teacher, the girl makes a pass at Ed and is rather insistent about it, unzipping his pants. Ed tries to stop her; the car swerves across the road to avoid hitting an oncoming car. When Ed comes to, he is being told he's under arrest. In response to his questions, the police and doctor tell him the girl has a broken clavicle but is otherwise well. A grand piano, with the lid up. ... Collarbone and collar bone redirect here. ...

A young boy swimming in a lake discovered a car with a man inside: the "pansy." Brewster didn't simply beat a confession out of him; he killed him. In his briefcase is the contract Ed signed; the police now believe that Ed coerced his wife into embezzling the money from Nirdlinger's to use in the investment, and that Ed is the person who killed the "pansy."

Ed is arraigned for the murder and mortgages his house to re-hire Riedenschneider. His opening statement to the jury is interrupted when Ed's brother-in-law Frank attacks Ed; a mistrial is declared. With no money and nothing left to mortgage, Ed is given the lawyer that Riedenschneider had showed such scorn for, whom he had said was good at "holding his hand on [his clients'] shoulders as they were thrown on the mercy of the court". This lawyer does in fact hold his hand on Ed's shoulder, and Ed is thrown on the mercy of the court--he's painted as a sociopath, remorseless, dangerous. He's sentenced to death. Ed writes his story out from his cell on death row, to sell to a tabloid magazine that pays him by the word. While waiting on death row, he wakes to find all the doors unlocked, and an alien ship outside. He merely nods at this, before returning inside. It is never made clear whether this scene was a dream or not. At the end of the film he is walked to the electric chair and strapped in, where he sits thinking about meeting his wife and possibly having the words to explain his thoughts to her, but mainly thinking about how he is unhappy about some of the consequences of his actions, but not unhappy that he took action and spiced up his life. Mistrial. ... Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a personality disorder which is often characterised by antisocial and impulsive behaviour. ... Death Row is a term used in some countries, including the United States, which refers to the section of a prison that houses individuals awaiting execution. ... Newspaper sizes in August 2005. ... Electric chair at the Kentucky State Penitentiary The electric chair is an execution method in which the person being executed is strapped to a chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body. ...

Joel and Ethan Coen at Cannes 2001 Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly known as The Coen Brothers have written and directed numerous successful films, such as comedies O Brother Where Art Thou, Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, as well as darker film noir dramas such as Fargo, Millers... Blood Simple is a neo-noir film, the debut of Joel and Ethan Coen, writers and directors of Fargo, The Man Who Wasnt There, and Raising Arizona, among others. ... Raising Arizona is a quirky, offbeat, and humorous 1987 Coen Brothers film starring Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, William Forsythe, John Goodman, Frances McDormand, and Randall Tex Cobb. ... Millers Crossing (1990) is a gangster film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. ... Barton Fink is a 1991 film by Joel and Ethan Coen. ... The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) is a screwball comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, telling a fictitious story about the invention of the hula hoop. ... Fargo is a 1996 neo-noir film created by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. ... The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. ... O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, set in Mississippi during the Great Depression (specifically, 1937). ... Intolerable Cruelty is a darkly humorous romantic comedy film from Joel and Ethan Coen for Universal released in 2003, starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. ... 2004 Movie poster for The Ladykillers The Ladykillers was a remake of the 1955 Ealing Studios comedy of the same name and was remade by the Coen Brothers in 2004 starring Tom Hanks. ... No Country For Old Men is the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthys novel of the same name. ...

External links

• Coenesque: The Films of the Coen Brothers
• You Know, For Kids! The Man Who Wasn't There page
• The Man Who Wasn't There at the Internet Movie Database
• The Man Who Wasn't There at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Man Who Wasn't There at Box Office Mojo
• The Man Who Wasn't There Draft Script
• The Man Who Wasn't There Film Review