Four Seasons is a 2008 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Frances McDormand, Joe Dempsie, Jennifer Aniston, Emily Deschanel, Skylar Astin, Ed Westwick, Kristin Cavallari, Rose Leslie, Eric Dane and Alex Russell.
The film is an anthology of stories trialing four men whom all are connected and all in an individual season fallen for a very bizarre girl.
The film was shot in Vancouver and Baltimore, it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival to overwhelming critical acclaim and praise from critics and audiences.
It met a theatrical release on September 9th, 2008 and grossed twice the size of it's moderatley sized budget.
The film received two BAFTA awards for best original screenplay and best cinematography as well as an Oscar Nomination for Aniston whose performance alongside actress Rose Leslie and actor Alex Russell was heavily praised.
The film was originally intended as a short but was purchased by Focus Features in colloboration with Lakeshore Entertainment.
The film marks a return from highly praised director Aronosky's previous credits such as Requiem For A Dream, The Wrestler, PI and Black Swan which were all heavily dark and dramatic in tone and genre.
Frances McDormand's respective role as the psychologist Cynthia Herald was written by Aronosky with her psychologist character from the hit Gregory Hoblit procedural drama thriller Primal Fear in mind.
Plot[]
Four friends: Clark Brewer (Joe Dempsie) a joyless obssessive compulsive, Martin Thimball (Skylar Astin) a troublemaking egocentric, Lionel Ritch (Ed Westwick) a bitter former alcoholic and Chance Douglas (Alex Russell) a grieving widower vow to turn their lives around over the course of the coming four seasons, and ultimatley find their significant others.
They bid farewell to each other after a wild drinking night, in which all but Lionel is allowed to drink and then scatter to four different cities on sabbatical from all their respective jobs.
In the Summer Clark settles into Tampa City, Florida where he finds himself sharing an apartment with a young asian woman and living across the hall from a Valium chugging escort Patricia Farmer (Jennifer Aniston) who goes by the stage name of Judes.
Clark finds himself instantly attracted to Patricia and makes the effort of getting to know her and learning all her problems as well as helping out his fellow roommate with her family issues in the meantime.
He comes to save Patricia from her abusive boss and abusive ex Donovan which brings the two together.
Eventually that have to part ways but Patricia confides in Clark that she loves him.
In Autumn Martin takes temporary residence in Baltimore and fills in as a contemporary delivery-man for the residents of his general estate area.
He comes to meet the extremely bizarre Nancy Battorino (Emily Deschanel).
He develops an interest in Lucy who at first is uninterested having torn out of a recently bad turned relationship.
Nancy however the eldest sister who has had a string of failed relationships, two of which had the partner turning out be gay takes an obsessive interest in Martin.
She becomes incredibly enraged at her sister Lucy who eventually returns Martin's advances in a passionate one night stand.
They part ways after Nancy has a psychotic breakdown and hacks at Lucy's arm with a butcher's knife before slitting her own wrists and landing her in hospital.
Martin and Lucy say their goodbyes at the emergency room and their entire conversation is overhead by Nancy who is revealed by an attending psychician as possessing manic depression.
Cold hearted bitter Lionel in Winter settles into Salt Lake City into a crappy apartment where he remains reclusive from all the tenants who make an attempt at getting to know him.
He inadvertenly saves the life of a beautiful bottle blonde Jones Burlingham (Kristin Cavallari) who is on the run from her ex boyfriend who cheated on her, Markus Tate (Eric Dane).
Despite Lionel trying to shut Jones off she continually pursues him and eventually breaks down the barriers of his heart revealing that beneath her outgoing, comedic uplifting charm lies a broken confused woman.
The two consumate their relationship and Markus gets into a punch on with Lionel.
Lionel releases his true inner anger out on Markus and severley injures him before the eyes of a repulsed Jones.
He then flees Salt Lake and we come to Spring Chicago where Chance Douglas takes in with his sister Margaret (Leslie Bibb), her unfaithful husband John (Tony Goldwyn) and their 12 year old son Thomas (Ty Simpkins).
He there in Chicago takes up sessions with a renowned psychologist Dr. Cynthia Herald (Frances McDormand) who helps him confront head on the death his late wife Natalie.
He then by chance outside Dr. Herald's building whilest on a break comes across bizarre poet/artist/songwriter Tracey Herald (Rose Leslie) who as it turns out is the only child of Dr. Cynthia Herald and the reason Dr. Herald entered into the field of psychology.
Dr. Herald had originally planned on being an humanitarian having majored in Humanities and Social Studies but also had a qualified degree in Science Of The Mind and The Advanced Study of Psychology.
Her daughter had at the age of 14 come to succumb to schitzophrenia and ADHD.
Dr. Herald then after failing to get help for her daughter abandoned her work and began a career as a local psychologist, establishing a book chronicling her controlling of her unstable daughter.
Despite Tracey's madness Chance falls hopelessly in love with her and she in turn falls for him.
This alarms Dr. Herald who forbids her from seeing him and in her next follow up session with Chance urges him to stay away from her daughter.
He refuses however and on an annual Friday night Mother and daughter stay in dinner night Chance is given an invitation by Tracey to join and the two consumate their relationship that night.
The two part after Tracey undergoes a frightening psychotic episode and whilest she is rehabiliting in a psychiatric ward he travels back to Michigan and reunites with his buddies who all share their equally shocking accounts of the bizarre women they fell for.
The following Summer they all return to the respective cities they travelled to and lived contemporarily in so as to reunite with the women they fell for.
Clark comes to stop a moving Patricia and engages in a passionate kiss before sending her off at the subway station promising to write her whilest she is off in Maine with her parents whom she had been too afraid to go visit since setting up as an escort in Tampa, Martin comes to visit Nancy and Lucy and see Nancy has made a full recovery and is medicated for her problems, Lucy collapses in a happy tearful embrace into Martin's knees, Lionel comes and sees that Jones is now living with Markus and assumes they are in a relationship, he however is informed she is merely living with him as she lost her place and she tells she never stopped thinking about him.
Lionel then comes into Markus and apologizes for what he did to him and Jones watches on tearfully and happily.
Chance comes to St. Milton Fine's Psychiatric Hospital where accompanied by Dr. Herald they visit an almost catatonic Tracey.
Dr. Herald apologizes for everything she said to him regards to her daughter and then asks if he sees his wife still, he tells her every day before she tells that Tracey has been confirmed as having almost fully recovered and is liable for release in 3 days.
As Dr. Herald departs smiling and turning a corner Chance enters Tracey's room and approaches her, she responds to his touch on her back and comes to her feet to kiss him.
She says his name and the film ends with the four friends at a bar happy and departing one by one.
Cast[]
- Frances McDormand as Dr. Cynthia Herald
- Joe Dempsie as Clark Brewer/ Summer
- Jennifer Aniston as Patricia Farmer
- Emily Deschanel as Nancy Battorino
- Skylar Astin as Martin Thimball/ Autumn
- Ed Westwick as Lionel Ritch/ Winter
- Kristin Cavallari as Jones Burlingham
- Rose Leslie as Tracey Herald
- Eric Dane as Markus Tate
- Alex Russell as Chance Douglas/ Spring
- Joe Lo Truglio as Pete Yorns
- Lucy Punch as Hamlet Yorns