Shutter Island is 10 ... Remember Leo's "Dead Wives Club"?
Wednesday, February 19, 2020 at 3:56PM by Nathaniel R
Ten years ago Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island (2010) opened in movie theaters. Or did it? It did but what if I were an unreliable narrator?!? Once you start worrying about fact versus self-fiction, well, it can drive a person crazy. Curiously given its hit status (though perhaps not so curiously given its release date) this is the only Scorsese film from the 2010s to not receive a single Oscar nomination.
Are you a fan? What's your most intense memory of it? I'll tell you mine after the jump...
My most intense memory of Shutter Island is not from the film itself but viral dramas on the internet. I was annoyed at the should-be-retired "dead wives" trope in male-focused dramas at the time so I created the following poster to mock it.
Leonardo DiCaprio had done three consecutive dead wives dramas (Revolutionary Road, Inception, Shutter Island) all released in the span of 19 months. This poster became a viral sensation on tumblr... but was not attributed to The Film Experience which we found deeply annoying since the poster took some time to make. But, well, the internet as a public domain meme-world... you win some, you lose some.
Alas our frequent griping did not deter Hollywood it's still common for screenwriters to give male heroes dead wives as trauma for them to overcome (women as symbols-only/fodder for male growth -- "not at all problematic!" he said, sarcastically).
Leo even made it a quadrilogy, finally winning the Oscar for The Revenant (2015)... which like Inception and Shutter Island featured his protagonist being visited by a spectral vision of his dead spouse. Thankfully Rick Dalton's new Italian wife survived her death-threat experience in Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood (2019).
Reader Comments (18)
Yeah but Kate only dies at the end the others he is mourning for.
It is not just the dead wife that has become an annoying, cliche: the dead child trope is alive and well also in such films as Arrival and Gravity. Relying on the death of a loved one is often lazy screenwriting, an all-too-easy attempt to add "depth" to a film's lead character.
Wait, Kate Winslet dies in revolutionary road I don’t remember that. It’s been so long since I’ve seen that and I’ve only watched once. The only thing I really remember was scenes with Shannon
My main "Shutter Island" memory is being absolutely furious at the anagram chart. Oof.
Never underestimate an Italian woman... I bet if Rick Dalton's new wife in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" was from another country she would never survive to tell the story about all those muder-ish "ragazzas"
Francesca was more than capable of holding her own (even getting a punch in!)
Cotillard got a lot of buzz for Inception. The internet wanted her to get a supporting actress nomination. I wonder how close she actually was to getting one? She was the best part of the movie ensemble.
What I remember the most is the scene where Leo's character interrogates the inmate while scribbling with a pencil. That film made some choices.
Shutter Island is underrated. I enjoyed the hell out of that film. Especially the ending as I just love Mark Ruffalo's reaction in that film.
PATTY "CRAZY CAVE LADY" CLARKSON
I like Shutter Island. It’s definitely underrated within Scorsese’s filmography, very thrilling and emotional watch. There are some scenes from it that still stick with me. The ensemble cast was terrific.
How curious, I had watched this film just yesterday for an independent study about the portrayal of mental health treatment in popular cinema. It was my first time seeing the movie in almost a decade, and there was a lot I didn't remember. I did feel kind of annoyed last that it doesn't exactly present a very flattering portrayal of psychiatry and psychiatric treatment in general and probably contributes to some of the stigmatization.of mental health. But that's just me.
When you use your Photoshop skills for good it really is an asset. It can help a piece not fade away in the crowd. Kudos.
Michelle Williams was insanely amazing in SH.
Still remember <3
Tom G, Marion is AMAZING in Inception - a great performance in “acting at the edges”. I don’t think she had any buzz for a nomination, but the whole concept of the movie relies on her performance.
Cotillard wasn't nominated even for Saturn Award (which had Ellen Page as BEST ACTRESS nominee, somehow) so I guess her chances were pretty dim.
Marion deserved a Oscar nomination for "Inception". And another for "Midnight in Paris".
This is one of those movies I was expecting to be better than it was.