The Shape of Things
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| The Shape of Things | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster |
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| 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 | English |
| Budget | $4,000,000 |
| All Movie Guide 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 Evelyn 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.
Central themes in The Shape of Things are questions of what art is, 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.
[edit] Plot
When Adam, an average student majoring in English literature at a provincial university, meets Evelyn, an attractive art student, at the local museum where he works part-time as a guard, his life takes a decisive turn. Never having had success with women and being something of a hermit, he is flattered when Evelyn shows an interest in him. They soon start a relationship, but Adam is infatuated with her to the point that he sometimes hangs around outside her classroom. He does his best to please her and, at first, he does not notice that Evelyn makes a lot of requests. All of the requests are about his appearance and personality. Early on, she suggests that he should start eating healthy food, change his style of clothes and have a haircut, which sounds reasonable enough. Later, however, she asks him to have plastic surgery - a nose job - and eventually asks him to stop seeing his friends Phillip and Jenny.
Jenny and Phillip are two people who seem to represent Adam's missed opportunity on love. Phillip is his former roommate and an arrogant jerk who rags on him incessantly. Jenny is a student with whom he shared a class and who wanted him to ask her out, but he never knew and probably would not have been bold enough to ask her anyway. Phillip has moved out of Adam's and into Jenny's. They're engaged. But Jenny has her doubts. During a tender moment with Adam, she shares a passionate kiss. Evelyn and Phillip find out, eventually leading to Evelyn's demands that Adam not see them again.
In the penultimate scene Adam learns that to Evelyn he has been nothing but an art object, part of her thesis project. Her academic work consists of "sculpting" a new human being using only the chisel of manipulation. She presents Adam as her work of art. Accordingly, none of the feelings she has shown him 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 one of the exhibits of her art installation.
Publicly humiliated and devastated beyond hope of recovery, Adam confronts Evelyn and, for once, demands an explanation. But all she says is that he should be grateful to her: she claims that, objectively speaking, she has been a positive influence on his life, making him a more attractive and healthier person.
As the story closes, Adam stands alone, surrounded by the remnants of his shattered life. He moves to the camcorder and watches a section of the tape: the time when Evelyn whispers in his ear and says the one "true" thing of their entire relationship. The curtain falls as Adam simply watches, a shell of his former self.
[edit] Trivia
- In the movie's opening, Paul Rudd bears an uncanny resembelence to a very young Neil LaBute.
- Neil LaBute used his entire original cast from the original play.
- One of the few Neil LaBute films that does not feature Aaron Eckhart, however, Eckhart is featured on the cover of a magazine that Paul Rudd reads in the scene in the plastic surgeon's office.
