DVD cover

The Shape of Things
Movie poster
Directed by	Neil LaBute
Produced by	Neil LaBute
Written by	Neil LaBute
Starring	Paul Rudd Rachel Weisz Gretchen Mol Fred Weller
Music by	Elvis Costello
Cinematography	James L. Carter
Editing by	Joel Plotch
Release date(s)	18 January 2003 Sundance Film Festival
Running time	96 min.
Country	USA / France / UK
Language	portugues
Budget	$4,000,000
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Shape of Things is a play by American author and film director Neil LaBute and a 2003 American movie. It premièred at the Almeida Theatre, London in 2001 with Paul Rudd as Adam, Rachel Weisz as Evelyn, Gretchen Mol as Jenny and Fred Weller as Phillip. The play was directed by LaBute himself. According to the author's instructions, it is to be performed without an interval or a curtain call. Image File history File linksMetadata The_Shape_of_Things_Cover. ... Image File history File linksMetadata The_Shape_of_Things_Cover. ... Image File history File linksMetadata The_Shape_of_Things_Poster. ... Neil LaBute (born March 19, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, and playwright. ... Neil LaBute (born March 19, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, and playwright. ... Neil LaBute (born March 19, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, and playwright. ... Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American film, television, and stage actor. ... Rachel Weisz (born March 7, 1971) is an Academy Award-winning English film and television actress. ... Gretchen Mol, born November 8, 1972 in Deep River, Connecticut, is an American actress. ... Frederick Weller (born 1966) is an American actor. ... Elvis Costello (born Declan Patrick McManus August 25, 1954) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. ... The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival in the state of Utah in the United States. ... Director Herbert Brenon with actress Alla Nazimova on the set of War Brides, 1916 A director is a person who directs the making of a film. ... Neil LaBute (born March 19, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, and playwright. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... The Almeida Theatre is a studio theatre with an international reputation, and was founded in 1980. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the year. ... Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American film, television, and stage actor. ... Rachel Weisz (born March 7, 1971) is an Academy Award-winning English film and television actress. ... Gretchen Mol, born November 8, 1972 in Deep River, Connecticut, is an American actress. ... Frederick Weller (born 1966) is an American actor. ...

The play has been reprised several times with new casts since its original premiere, most recently under the direction of Brian Rhinehart at the Bernie West Theater in New York City.

Central themes in The Shape of Things are questions on the nature of art, psychopathy and intimacy, explorations of love and people's willingness to do things for love. It is set in a small university town in the American Midwest and centers on the lives of four young students who become emotionally and romantically involved with each other. This article is about the philosophical concept of Art. ... This article is about psychological theories of psychopathy. ... Definition Intimacy is complex in that its meaning varies from relationship to relationship, and within a given relationship over time. ... For other uses, see Love (disambiguation). ... The Midwest is a common name for a region of the United States of America. ...

Plot

When Adam, an English Literature major at Clarkson, a fictitious Midwestern college, meets Evelyn, an attractive graduate art student, at the local museum where he works, his life takes an unexpected turn. Never having had success with women, he is flattered when Evelyn shows an interest in him and, at Evelyn's suggestion, begins regular exercise regiment, eats healthier foods, and purchases contact lenses. These initial changes regarding Adam's physical appearance are well-received by Adam's friend Phillip and erstwhile love interest Jenny. Later however, Evelyn cajoles Adam into undergoing plastic surgery and succeeds in persuading him to cut himself off from Phillip and Jenny. The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian, V.S... For the album by The Huntingtons, see Plastic Surgery (album). ...

In the penultimate scene Adam learns that he has been part of Evelyn's MFA thesis project, a topic often touched on in conversation throughout the film but never fully explained. Evelyn relates that she had been instructed to "change the world" by her graduate adviser, but that she has chosen to change "someone's world", her academic work ultimately consisting of "sculpting" Adam into a more attractive human being. She presents Adam before an audience of students and faculty as her creation. Accordingly, none of the feelings she has shown him throughout the film are genuine; at no stage in their "relationship" does she fall in love with him; her videotaping of their lovemaking is just a part of the project's documentation. In fact, she announces before a live audience at her gallery opening that she is not going to marry him and the engagement ring he offers her is simply one of the exhibits of her art installation, albeit the "capper to my time at Clarkson."

Publicly humiliated and devastated, Adam confronts Evelyn, demanding an explanation for her actions. She responds by saying that he should in fact be grateful to her, claiming that, objectively speaking, she has been a positive influence on his life, making him a more attractive and interesting person in the eyes of society.

In the final moments of the film, Adam stands alone, surrounded by the remnants of his life before Evelyn. Moving to a camcorder, he watches a section of a tape recorded earlier in the film, a moment in which Evelyn had whispered in his ear what she described as the one "true" thing of their relationship. The film ends as Adam watches and continuously rewinds the tape, attempting to make out Evelyn's truth. Sony DV Handycam A camcorder is a portable electronic device for recording video images and audio onto an internal storage device. ...

Trivia

Similar to the film Lost In Translation in which the audience never learns what Bill Murray whispers to Scarlett Johansson prior to his leaving Japan, LaBute uses the final moments of The Shape Of Things to distance the audience from the most intimate details of his story. It has been suggested that Lost on Location be merged into this article or section. ... William James Bill Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an Academy Award-nominated, Emmy-, Golden Globe-, and BAFTA-winning American comedian and actor. ... Scarlett I. Johansson[1] (born November 22, 1984) is a BAFTA-winning and four-time Golden Globe-nominated actress and singer, of dual American and Danish citizenship. ...

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