Barton Fink is a 1991
AmericanThe cinema of the United States has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
film written and directed by the
Coen brothersJoel Coen and Ethan Coen, known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers. For more than twenty years, the pair have written and directed numerous successful films, ranging from screwball comedies to hardboiled thrillers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, known together...
. Set in 1941, it stars
John TurturroJohn Michael Turturro is an American actor, writer, and director best known for his performances in Barton Fink , Quiz Show , The Big Lebowski , and O Brother, Where Art Thou?...
in the title role as a young New York City
playwrightA playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works are usually written to be performed in front of a live audience by actors...
who is hired to write scripts for a movie studio in Hollywood, and
John GoodmanJohn Stephen Goodman is an American actor. He is best known for his role on the television series Roseanne, as well as his film work with the Coen brothers.-Early life:...
as Charlie, the insurance salesman who lives next door at the run-down
Hotel Earle. The Coens wrote the screenplay in three weeks while experiencing difficulty during the writing of another movie,
Miller's CrossingMiller's Crossing is a 1990 crime film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden, Jon Polito and John Turturro...
. Soon after
Miller's Crossing was finished, the Coens began filming
Barton Fink, and it premiered at the
Cannes Film Festival- Jury :*Roman Polanski *Férid Boughedir *Whoopi Goldberg *Margaret Menegoz *Natalia Negoda *Alan Parker *Jean-Paul Rappeneau *Hans Dieter Seidel *Vittorio Storaro...
in May 1991. In a rare sweep, it won the
Palme d'OrThe Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded to competing films at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film...
prize, as well as awards for Best Director and Best Actor (Turturro). Although it was celebrated almost universally by critics, the movie only grossed $6,000,000 at the box office two-thirds of its estimated budget.
The process of writing and the culture of entertainment production are two prominent themes of
Barton Fink. The world of
HollywoodHollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States, situated west-northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonymy of American cinema...
is contrasted with that of
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
, and the film analyzes superficial distinctions between
high cultureHigh culture is a term, now used in a number of different ways in academic discourse, whose most common meaning is the set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem by a culture. In more popular terms, it is the culture of an elite such as the aristocracy or intelligentsia...
and
low cultureLow culture is a derogatory term for some forms of popular culture. The term is often encountered in discourses on the nature of culture. Its opposite is high culture...
. Other themes in the film include fascism and
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
; slavery and conditions of labor in creative industries; and how intellectuals relate to "the common man".
Because of its diverse elements,
Barton Fink has defied efforts at genre classification. It has been variously referred to as a
film noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
, a
horror filmHorror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness...
, a
KünstlerromanA Künstlerroman is a specific sub-genre of Bildungsroman; it is a novel about an artist's growth to maturity. Such novels often depict the struggles of a sensitive youth against the values of a bourgeois society of his or her time....
, and a
buddy filmA buddy film, according to The Complete Film Dictionary, is "a film that features the friendship of two males as the major relationship". Ira Konigsberg, author of the dictionary, further defines the genre: "Such films extol the virtues of male comradeship and relegate male-female relationships to...
. The surreal abandoned mood of the Hotel Earle was central to the development of the story, and careful deliberation went into its design. Barton's living quarters contrast the polished and pristine environs of Hollywood, especially the home of his boss Jack Lipnick. A single picture on the wall of a woman at the beach captures Barton's attention, and the image reappears in the final scene of the movie. Although the picture and other elements of the film (including a mysterious box given to Barton by Charlie) appear laden with symbolism, critics disagree over their possible meanings. The Coens have acknowledged some intentional symbolic elements while denying an attempt to communicate any holistic message.
The movie contains allusions to many real-life people and events, most notably the writers
Clifford OdetsClifford Odets was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester.-Early life:Odets was born in Philadelphia of immigrant parents, Lou Odets and Esther Geisinger, and raised in the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high school to pursue acting...
and
William FaulknerWilliam Faulkner was a Nobel Prize-winning American author. One of the most influential writers of the 20th century, his reputation is based on his novels, novellas and short stories. He was also a published poet and an occasional screenwriter.Most of Faulkner's works are set in his native state...
. The characters of Barton Fink and W.P. Mayhew are widely seen as fictional representations of these men, but the Coens stress important differences. They have also admitted to parodying film magnates like
Louis B. MayerLouis Burt Mayer was a Russian-born American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
, but also note that Barton's agonizing tribulations in Hollywood are not meant to reflect their own experiences.
Barton Fink was influenced by several earlier works, including the films of
Roman PolanskiRoman Raymond Polanski is a Polish-French film director, producer, writer, and actor. Polanski began his career in Poland, and later became a critically-acclaimed director of both art house and commercial films....
, particularly
Repulsion (1965) and
The TenantThe Tenant is a 1976 psychological thriller/horror film directed by Roman Polanski based upon the 1964 novel Le locataire chimérique by Roland Topor. It is also known under the French title Le Locataire. It co-stars actress Isabelle Adjani. It is the last film in Polanski's "Apartment Trilogy",...
(1976). Other movies that influenced
Barton Fink are
Stanley KubrickStanley Kubrick was an American director, writer, producer, and photographer of films, who lived in England during most of the last 40 years of his career...
's 1980 film
The ShiningThe Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. Though it had mixed reviews from the critics upon its release it was wildly popular with moviegoers and financially successful...
and
Sullivan's TravelsSullivan's Travels is a American comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges. It is a satire about a movie director, played by Joel McCrea, who longs to make a socially relevant drama, but eventually learns that comedies are his more valuable contribution to society. The film features one...
(1941) by filmmaker
Preston SturgesPreston Sturges , originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated screenwriter and film director born in Chicago....
. The Coens' movie also contains a number of literary allusions, to works by
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
,
John KeatsJohn Keats was an English poet, who became one of the key figures of the Romantic movement. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, Keats was one of the second generation Romantic poets...
and
Flannery O'ConnorMary Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist, short-story writer and essayist.An important voice in American literature, O'Connor wrote two novels and 32 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries...
. Several religious overtones also appear, including references to the
Book of DanielThe Book of Daniel is a book in both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic, it is set during the Babylonian Captivity, a period when Jews were deported and exiled to Babylon following the Siege of Jerusalem of 597 BC...
in the Old Testament, King Nebuchadnezzar and
BathshebaAccording to the Hebrew Bible, Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. She was the mother of Solomon, who succeeded David as king....
.
Plot
At the start of the movie, Barton Fink is enjoying the success of his first play,
Bare Ruined Choirs. His agent informs him that Capitol Pictures in Hollywood has offered a thousand dollars per week to write movie scripts. Barton hesitates, worried that moving to California would separate him from "the common man", his focus as a writer. He accepts the offer, however, and checks into the Hotel Earle, a large and unusually deserted building. His room is sparse and draped in subdued colors; its only decoration is a small painting of a woman on the beach, arm raised to block the sun.
In his first meeting with Capitol Pictures boss Jack Lipnick (
Michael Lerner-Biography:Lerner was born in Brooklyn, New York of Romanian Jewish descent, the son of Blanche and George Lerner, who was a fisherman and antiques dealer. He was raised in Bensonhurst and Red Hook. His brother, Ken Lerner, is also an actor...
), Barton explains that he chose the Earle because he wants lodging that is (as Lipnick says) "less Hollywood". Lipnick promises that his only concern is Barton's writing ability, and assigns his new employee to a wrestling movie. Back in his room, however, Barton is unable to write. He is distracted by sounds coming from the room next door, and he phones the front desk to complain. His neighbor, Charlie Meadows (the source of the noise) visits Barton to apologize, and insists on sharing some alcohol from a hip flask to make amends. As they talk, Barton proclaims his affection for "the common man", and Charlie describes his life as an insurance salesman.
Still unable to proceed beyond the first lines of his script, Barton consults producer Ben Geisler (
Tony ShalhoubAnthony Marcus "Tony" Shalhoub is a Lebanese-American actor, best known for his role as obsessive-compulsive sleuth Adrian Monk on the TV series Monk.-Early life:...
) for advice. Irritated, the frenetic Geisler takes him to lunch and orders him to speak with another writer for assistance. While in the bathroom, Barton meets the novelist W.P. Mayhew (
John MahoneyJohn Mahoney is a British American actor, known for playing Martin "Marty" Crane, the retired police officer father of Kelsey Grammer's Dr...
), who is vomiting in the next stall. They briefly discuss movie writing, and arrange a second meeting later in the day. When Barton arrives, Mayhew is drunk and yelling wildly. His secretary, Audrey Taylor (
Judy DavisJudy Davis is an Australian actress.-Personal life:Davis was born in Perth and had a strict Catholic upbringing. She was educated at Loreto Convent and graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1977. She has been married to actor and fellow NIDA graduate Colin Friels since 1984...
), reschedules the meeting and informs Barton that she and Mayhew are in love. When they finally meet for lunch, Mayhew, Audrey, and Barton discuss writing and drinking. Before long Mayhew argues with Audrey, slaps her, and wanders off, drunk. Rejecting Barton's offer of consolation, she explains that she feels sorry for Mayhew, since he is married to another woman who is "disturbed".
With one day left before his meeting with Lipnick to discuss the movie, Barton phones Audrey and begs her for assistance. She visits him at the Earle, and after she admits that she wrote most of Mayhew's scripts, they are assumed to be making love; Barton later confesses to Charlie they did so. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds Audrey's mutilated corpse beside him but has no memory of the night's events. Horrified, he summons Charlie and asks for help. Charlie is repulsed, but disposes of the body and orders Barton to avoid contacting the police. After a surreal meeting with an unusually supportive Lipnick, Barton tries writing again and is interrupted by Charlie, who announces he is going to New York for several days. Charlie leaves a package with Barton and asks him to watch it.
Soon afterwards, Barton is visited by two police detectives, who inform him that Charlie's last name is in fact Mundt "Madman Mundt". He is wanted for several murders; after shooting his victims, they explain, he decapitates them and keeps the heads. Stunned, Barton returns to his room and examines the box. Placing it on his desk, he begins writing and produces the entire script in one sitting. After a night of celebratory dancing, Barton returns to find the detectives in his room. Charlie appears, and the hotel is engulfed in flames. Running through the hallway, screaming, Charlie shoots the policemen with a shotgun. As the hallway burns, Charlie speaks with Barton about their lives and the hotel, then retires to his own room. Barton leaves the hotel, carrying the box and his script. In a final meeting, Lipnick chastises Barton for writing "a fruity movie about suffering", then informs him that he is to remain in Los Angeles, and that although he will remain under contract Capitol Pictures will not produce anything he writes. Dazed, Barton wanders onto a beach, still carrying the package. He meets a woman who looks just like the one in the picture on his wall at the Earle, and she asks about the box. He tells her that he knows neither what it contains nor to whom it belongs. She assumes the pose from the picture, and the film ends.
Background and writing
In 1989 filmmakers
Joel and Ethan CoenJoel Coen and Ethan Coen, known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers. For more than twenty years, the pair have written and directed numerous successful films, ranging from screwball comedies to hardboiled thrillers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, known together...
began writing the script for a movie eventually released as
Miller's Crossing. The many threads of the story became complicated, and after four months they found themselves lost in the process. Although biographers and critics later referred to it as
writer's blockWriter's block is a condition, associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task in hand...
, the Coen brothers rejected this description. "It's not really the case that we were suffering from writer's block," Joel said in a 1991 interview, "but our working speed had slowed, and we were eager to get a certain distance from
Miller's Crossing." They went from Los Angeles to New York and began work on a different project.
In three weeks, the Coens wrote a script with a title role written specifically for actor
John TurturroJohn Michael Turturro is an American actor, writer, and director best known for his performances in Barton Fink , Quiz Show , The Big Lebowski , and O Brother, Where Art Thou?...
, with whom they'd been working on
Miller's Crossing. The new movie,
Barton Fink, was set in a large, seemingly-abandoned hotel. This setting, which they named the
Hotel Earle, was a driving force behind the story and mood of the new project. While filming their 1985 film
Blood SimpleBlood Simple. is a 1985 neo-noir crime film. It was the directorial debut of Joel and Ethan Coen, and the first major film of cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, who later became a noted director...
in
Austin, TexasAustin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 15th-largest in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in the nation...
, the Coens had seen a hotel which made a significant impression: "We thought, 'Wow, Motel Hell.' You know, being condemned to live in the weirdest hotel in the world."
The writing process for
Barton Fink was smooth, they said, suggesting that the relief of being away from
Miller's Crossing may have been a catalyst. They also felt satisfied with the overall shape of the story, which helped them move quickly through the composition. "Certain films come entirely in one's head; we just sort of burped out
Barton Fink." While writing, the Coens created a second leading role with another actor in mind: John Goodman, who had appeared in their 1987 comedy
Raising ArizonaRaising Arizona is a 1987 Coen Brothers comedy film starring Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, William Forsythe, John Goodman, Frances McDormand and Randall "Tex" Cobb. Not a blockbuster at the time of its release, it has since achieved the status of a cult film...
. His new character, Charlie, was Barton's next-door neighbor in the cavernous hotel. Even before writing, the Coens knew how the story would end, and wrote Charlie's final speech at the start of the writing process.
The script served its diversionary purpose, and the Coens put it aside: "
Barton Fink sort of washed out our brain and we were able to go back and finish
Miller's Crossing." Once production of the first movie was finished, the Coens began to recruit staff to film
Barton Fink. Turturro looked forward to playing the lead role, and spent a month with the Coens in Los Angeles to coordinate views on the project: "I felt I could bring something more human to Barton. Joel and Ethan allowed me a certain contribution. I tried to go a little further than they expected."
Production
As they designed detailed
storyboardStoryboards are graphic organizers such as a series of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including website interactivity....
s for
Barton Fink, the Coens began looking for a new
cinematographerA cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
, since their associate
Barry SonnenfeldBarry Sonnenfeld is an American filmmaker and television director. He worked as cinematographer for the Coen Brothers, then later he directed and produced big budget films such as Men in Black.-Biography:...
who had filmed their first three movies was occupied with his own directorial debut,
The Addams FamilyThe Addams Family is a 1991 black comedy film based on the characters, from the cartoon of the same name, created by cartoonist Charles Addams, featuring songs and a video from rap artist Hammer ....
. The Coens had been impressed with the work of English cinematographer
Roger DeakinsRoger A. Deakins is an English BAFTA Award-winning cinematographer best known for his work on the films of the Coen brothers. Deakins is a member of both the American and British Society of Cinematographers.- Early years :...
, particularly the interior scenes of the 1988 movie
Stormy MondayStormy Monday is the 1988 feature film debut of director Mike Figgis. Starring Sean Bean, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting and Melanie Griffith, it is an atmospheric noirish thriller. The notable jazz soundtrack is also by Figgis. Being set in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the film is something of an homage to Get...
. After screening other films he had worked on (including
Sid and NancySid and Nancy is a 1986 film directed by Alex Cox. The film materialized during a time of renewed interest in the period of punk rock, heroin addiction and specifically the life of Sid Vicious...
and
Pascali's IslandPascali's Island is a novel by Barry Unsworth, first published in 1980. The first United States publication of the book by Simon & Schuster was titled The Idol Hunter.The film version, produced in , was written and directed by James Dearden...
), they sent a script to Deakins and invited him to join the project. His agent advised against working with the Coens, but Deakins met with them at a cafe in
Notting HillNotting Hill is an area in West London, England close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
and they soon began working together on
Barton Fink.
Filming began in June 1990 and took eight weeks (a third less time than required by
Miller's Crossing), and the estimated final budget for the movie was US$9 million. The Coens worked well with Deakins, and they easily translated their ideas for each scene onto film. "There was only one moment we surprised him," Joel Coen recalled later. An extended scene called for a
tracking shotIn motion picture terminology, a tracking shot is a segment in which the camera is mounted on a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails while the picture is being taken...
out of the bedroom and into a sink drain "plug hole" in the adjacent bathroom as a symbol of sexual intercourse. "The shot was a lot of fun and we had a great time working out how to do it," Joel said. "After that, every time we asked Roger to do something difficult, he would raise an eyebrow and say, 'Don't be having me track down any plug-holes now.'"
Three weeks of filming were spent in the Hotel Earle, a set created by art director
Dennis GassnerDennis Gassner is an art director. He has been nominated four times and has won once. The movies which he received nominations for are:* Bugsy, Won* Barton Fink, Nominated* Road to Perdition, Nominated...
. The film's climax required a huge spreading fire in the hotel's hallway, which the Coens originally planned to add digitally in
post-productionPost-production is part of the filmmaking process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, videos, audio recordings, photography and digital art...
. When they decided to use real flames, however, the crew built a large alternate set in an abandoned aircraft
hangarA hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but wood and concrete are other materials used. The word hangar comes from a northern French dialect, and means "cattle pen."...
at
Long BeachLong Beach is a large city located in southern California, USA, on the Pacific coast. It is situated in Los Angeles County, about south of downtown Los Angeles. Long Beach borders Orange County on its southeast edge....
. A series of gas jets was installed behind the hallway, and the wallpaper was perforated for easy penetration. As Goodman ran through the hallway, a man on an overhead
catwalkA catwalk is an elevated service platform from which many of the technical functions of a theater, such as lighting and sound, may be manipulated.- Function :...
opened each jet, giving the impression of a fire racing ahead of Charlie. Each take required a rebuild of the apparatus, and a second hallway (sans fire) stood ready nearby for filming pick-up shots between takes. The final scene was shot near
Zuma BeachZuma Beach is a County beach located at 30000 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. One of the largest and most popular beaches in the Los Angeles County, Zuma is known for its long, wide sands and excellent surf...
, as was the image of a wave crashing against a rock.
The Coens edited the movie themselves, as is their custom. "We prefer a hands-on approach," Joel explained in 1996, "rather than sitting next to someone and telling them what to cut." Because of rules for membership in film production
guildA guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade.The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel and a secret society...
s, they are required to use a pseudonym; "Roderick Jaynes" is credited with editing
Barton Fink. Only a few filmed scenes were removed from the final cut, including a transition scene to show Barton's movement from New York to Hollywood. (In the movie, this is shown enigmatically with a wave crashing against a rock.) Several scenes representing work in Hollywood studios were also filmed, but edited out because they were "too conventional".
Setting
The spooky, inexplicably empty feel of the Hotel Earle was central to the Coens' conception of the movie. "We wanted an
art decoArt Deco was a popular international art design movement from 1925 until the 1940s, affecting the decorative arts such as architecture, interior design, and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts, and film...
stylization," Joel explained in a 1991 interview, "and a place that was falling into ruin after having seen better days." Barton's room is sparsely furnished with two large windows facing another building. The Coens later described the hotel as a "ghost ship floating adrift, where you notice signs of the presence of other passengers, without ever laying eyes on any". In the movie, residents' shoes are an indication of this unseen presence; another rare sign of other inhabitants is the sound from adjacent rooms. Joel said: "You can imagine it peopled by failed commercial travelers, with pathetic sex lives, who cry alone in their rooms." Heat and moisture are other important elements of the setting. The wallpaper in Barton's room peels and droops; Charlie experiences the same problem, and guesses heat is the cause. The Coens used green and yellow colors liberally in designing the hotel "to suggest an aura of putrefaction".
The atmosphere of the hotel was meant to connect with the character of Charlie. As Joel explained: "Our intention, moreover, was that the hotel function as an exteriorization of the character played by John Goodman. The sweat drips off his forehead like the paper peels off the walls. At the end, when Goodman says that he is a prisoner of his own mental state, that this is like some kind of hell, it was necessary for the hotel to have already suggested something infernal." The peeling wallpaper and the paste which seeps through it also mirror Charlie's chronic ear infection and the resultant pus.
When Barton first arrives at the Hotel Earle, he is asked by the friendly bellhop Chet (
Steve BuscemiSteven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director.-Early life:Steve Buscemi was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Dorothy, who worked as a hostess at Howard Johnson's, and John Buscemi, a sanitation worker and Korean War veteran. Buscemi's father was Italian...
) if he is "a trans or a res" transient or resident. Barton explains that he isn't sure, but will be staying "indefinitely". The dichotomy between permanent inhabitants and guests reappears several times, notably in the hotel's motto, "A day or a lifetime", which Barton notices on the room's stationery. This idea returns at the end of the movie, when Charlie describes Barton as "a tourist with a typewriter". His ability to leave the Earle (while Charlie remains) is presented by critic Erica Rowell as evidence that Barton's story represents the process of writing itself. Barton, she says, represents an author who is able to leave a story, while characters like Charlie cannot.
In contrast, the offices of Capitol Pictures and Lipnick's house are pristine, lavishly decorated, and extremely comfortable. The company's rooms are bathed in sunlight, and Ben Geisler's office faces a lush array of flora. Barton meets Lipnick in one scene beside an enormous, spotless swimming pool. This echoes his position as studio head, as he explains: "...you can't always be honest, not with the sharks swimming around this town ... if I'd been totally honest, I wouldn't be within a mile of this pool—unless I was cleaning it." In his office, Lipnick showcases another trophy of his power: statues of
AtlasIn Greek mythology, Atlas was the primordial Titan who supported the heavens from the ranges now called the Atlas Mountains. Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Asia or Klyménē :...
, the
TitanIn Greek mythology, the Titans , were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary Golden Age...
of Greek mythology who declared war on the gods of
Mount OlympusMount Olympus is the highest mountain range in Greece, its highest peak Mýtikas rising to 2,919 metres high . Since its base is located at sea level, it is one of the highest peaks in Europe in terms of topographic prominence, the relative altitude from base to top...
and was severely punished.
Originally, the historical moment just after the United States entered
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was to be a significant impact on the place. As the Coens explained: "[W]e were thinking of a hotel where the lodgers were old people, the insane, the physically handicapped, because all the others had left for the war. The further the script was developed, the more this theme got left behind, but it had led us, in the beginning, to settle on that period." The connection to World War II is not made explicit until the end of the movie, when Lipnick appears in a colonel's uniform. Although he is wearing a costume and has not actually entered the military, he declares himself ready to fight the "little yellow bastards". In an earlier scene, Barton watches
dailiesDailies, in filmmaking, is the term used to describe the raw, unedited footage shot during the making of a motion picture. They are so called because usually at the end of each day, that day's footage is developed, synched to sound, and printed on film in a batch for viewing the next day by the...
from another wrestling movie being made by Capitol Pictures; the date on the
clapperboardIn motion picture and videotape production, a clapperboard is a device used to assist in the synchronizing of picture and sound; additionally, the clapperboard is used to designate and mark particular scenes and takes recorded during a production...
is 9 December, two days after the
attack on Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 , later resulting in the United...
. When he celebrates the completed script later by dancing at a
USOThe United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in over 135 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support...
show, he is surrounded by soldiers who are presumably heading toward the battlefield.
The Picture
The picture in Barton's room of a woman at the beach is a central focus for both the character and camera. He examines it frequently while at his desk, and after finding Audrey's corpse in his bed he goes to stand near it. The image is repeated at the end of the film, when he meets an identical-looking woman at an identical-looking beach, who strikes an identical pose. After complimenting her beauty, he asks her: "Are you in pictures?" She blushes and replies: "Don't be silly."
The Coens decided early in the writing process to include the picture as a key element in the room. "Our intention," Joel explained later, "was that the room would have very little decoration, that the walls would be bare and that the windows would offer no view of any particular interest. In fact, we wanted the only opening on the exterior world to be this picture. It seemed important to us to create a feeling of isolation."
Later in the film, Barton places into the frame a small picture of Charlie, dressed in a fine suit and holding a briefcase. The juxtaposition of his neighbor in the uniform of an insurance salesman and the escapist image of the woman on the beach leads to a confusion of reality and fantasy for Barton. Critic Michael Dunne notes: "[V]iewers can only wonder how 'real' Charlie is. ... In the film's final shot ... viewers must wonder how 'real' [the woman] is. The question leads to others: How real is Fink? Lipnick? Audrey? Mayhew? How real are films anyway?"
The picture's significance has been the subject of broad speculation.
Washington Post reviewer Desson Howe said that despite its emotional impact, the final scene "feels more like a punchline for punchline's sake, a trumped-up coda". In her book-length analysis of the Coen brothers' films, Rowell suggests that Barton's fixation on the picture is ironic, considering its
low cultureLow culture is a derogatory term for some forms of popular culture. The term is often encountered in discourses on the nature of culture. Its opposite is high culture...
status and his own pretensions toward
high cultureHigh culture is a term, now used in a number of different ways in academic discourse, whose most common meaning is the set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem by a culture. In more popular terms, it is the culture of an elite such as the aristocracy or intelligentsia...
(speeches to the contrary notwithstanding). She further notes that the camera focuses on Barton himself as much as the picture while he gazes at it. At one point, the camera moves past Barton to fill the frame with the woman on the beach. This tension between objective and subjective points of view appears again at the end of the film, when Barton finds himself in a sense inside the picture.
Critic M. Keith Booker calls the final scene an "enigmatic comment on representation and the relationship between art and reality". He suggests that the identical images point to the absurdity of art which reflects life directly. The film transposes the woman directly from art to reality, prompting confusion in the viewer; Booker asserts that such a literal depiction therefore leads inevitably to uncertainty.
Genre
The Coens are known for making films that defy simple classification. Although they refer to their first movie,
Blood Simple, as a relatively straightforward example of
detective fictionDetective fiction is a branch of crime fiction in which a detective , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder...
, the Coens wrote their next script,
Raising Arizona, without trying to fit a particular genre. They decided to write a
comedyComedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece...
, but intentionally added dark elements to produce what Ethan calls "a pretty savage film". Their third film,
Miller's Crossing, reversed this order, mixing bits of comedy into a
crime filmA crime film, in the most general sense, is a film that involves various aspects crime and the criminal justice system. Stylistically, it can fall under many different genres, most commonly drama, thriller, Mystery film and film noir...
. Yet it also subverts single-genre identity by using conventions from
melodramaThe theatrical genre of melodrama uses theme-music to manipulate the spectator's emotional response and to denote character types. The term combines "melody" and "drama" . While the use of music is nearly ubiquitous in modern film, in most cases it is used within a fairly rigid structure...
,
love storiesThe romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late...
, and
political satirePolitical satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly...
.
This trend of mixing movie types continued and intensified with
Barton Fink; the Coens insist the film "does not belong to any genre". Ethan has described it as "a
buddy movieA buddy film, according to The Complete Film Dictionary, is "a film that features the friendship of two males as the major relationship". Ira Konigsberg, author of the dictionary, further defines the genre: "Such films extol the virtues of male comradeship and relegate male-female relationships to...
for the '90s". It contains elements of comedy,
film noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
, and
horrorHorror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness...
, but other film categories are present. Actor Turturro referred to it as a
coming of age storyA bildungsroman is a coming-of-age kind of novel. It arose during the German Enlightenment, and in it, the author presents the psychological, moral and social shaping of the personality of a usually young main character...
, while literature professor and film analyst R. Barton Palmer calls it a
KünstlerromanA Künstlerroman is a specific sub-genre of Bildungsroman; it is a novel about an artist's growth to maturity. Such novels often depict the struggles of a sensitive youth against the values of a bourgeois society of his or her time....
, highlighting the importance of the main character's evolution as a writer. Critic Donald Lyons describes the movie as "a retro-
surrealistSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
vision".
Because it crosses genres, fragments the characters' experiences, and resists straightforward narrative resolution,
Barton Fink is often considered an example of
postmodernist filmPostmodernist film describes the articulation of ideas of postmodernism through the cinematic medium. Postmodernist film upsets the mainstream conventions of narrative structure and characterization and destroys the audience's suspension of disbelief to create a work in which a less-recognizable...
. In his book
Postmodern Hollywood, Booker says the movie renders the past with an
impressionistImpressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence in the 1870s and 1880s...
technique, not a precise accuracy. This technique, he notes, is "typical of postmodern film, which views the past not as the prehistory of the present but as a warehouse of images to be raided for material". In his analysis of the Coens' films, Palmer calls
Barton Fink a "postmodern pastiche" which closely examines how past eras have represented themselves. He compares it to
The HoursThe Hours is a 2002 American & British drama film directed by Stephen Daldry, and starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Ed Harris. The screenplay by David Hare is based on the 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title by Michael Cunningham.The plot focuses on three...
, a 2002 movie about
Virginia WoolfAdeline Virginia Woolf was an English novelist, essayist, epistler, publisher, feminist, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
and two women who read her work. He asserts that both films, far from rejecting the importance of the past, add to our understanding of it. He quotes literary theorist
Linda HutcheonLinda Hutcheon is a Canadian academic working in the fields of literary theory and criticism, Opera, and Canadian Studies. Hutcheon describes her herself as "intellectually promiscuous", as she brings a cross-disciplinary approach to her work She is University Professor in the Department of...
: The kind of postmodernism exhibited in these films "does not deny the
existence of the past; it does question whether we can ever
know that past other than through its textualizing remains".
Certain elements in
Barton Fink highlight the veneer of postmodernism: the writer is unable to resolve his
modernistModernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes both a set of cultural tendencies and an array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society in the late...
focus on high culture with the studio's desire to create formulaic high-profit movies; the resulting collision produces a fractured story arc emblematic of postmodernism. The Coens' cinematic style is another example; when Barton and Audrey begin making love, the camera pans away to the bathroom, then moves toward the sink and down its drain. Rowell calls this a "postmodern update" of the notorious sexually suggestive image of a train entering a tunnel, used by director
Alfred HitchcockSir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British filmmaker and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
in his 1959 movie
North by NorthwestNorth by Northwest is a 1959 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, and featuring Leo G. Carroll and Martin Landau...
.
Style
Barton Fink uses several stylistic conventions to accentuate the story's mood and give visual emphasis to particular themes. For example, the opening credits roll over the Hotel Earle's wallpaper, as the camera moves downward. This motion is repeated many times in the film, especially pursuant to Barton's claim that his job is to "plumb the depths" while writing. His first experiences in the Hotel Earle continue this trope; the bellhop Chet emerges from beneath the floor, suggesting the real activity is underground. Although Barton's floor is presumably six floors above the lobby, the interior of the elevator is shown only while it is descending. These elements combined with many dramatic pauses, surreal dialogue, and implied threats of violence create an atmosphere of extreme tension. The Coens explained that "the whole movie was supposed to feel like impending doom or catastrophe. And we definitely wanted it to end with an apocalyptic feeling".
The style of
Barton Fink is also evocative and representative of films of the 1930s and '40s. As critic Michael Dunne points out: "Fink's heavy overcoat, his hat, his dark, drab suits come realistically out of the Thirties, but they come even more out of the films of the Thirties." The style of the Hotel Earle and atmosphere of various scenes also reflect the influence of pre-WWII filmmaking. Even Charlie's underwear matches that worn by his filmic hero
Jack OakieJack Oakie was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television.-Early life:...
. At the same time, camera techniques used by the Coens in
Barton Fink represent a combination of the classic with the original. Careful tracking shots and extreme close-ups distinguish the film as a product of the late 20th century.
From the start, the film moves continuously between Barton's
subjective viewA point of view shot is a short film scene that shows what a character is looking at . It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character's reaction...
of the world and one which is objective. After the opening credits roll, the camera pans down to Barton, watching the end of his play. Soon we see the audience from his point of view, cheering wildly for him. As he walks forward, he enters the shot and the viewer is returned to an objective point of view. This blurring of the subjective and objective returns in the final scene.
The shifting point of view coincides with the movie's subject matter: filmmaking. The movie begins with the end of a play, and the story explores the process of creation. This
metanarrativeIn critical theory, and particularly postmodernism, a metanarrative is an abstract idea that is thought to be a comprehensive explanation of historical experience or knowledge...
approach is emphasized by the camera's focus in the first scene on Barton (who is mouthing the words spoken by actors offscreen), not on the play he is watching. As Rowell says: "[T]hough we listen to one scene, we watch another. ... The separation of sound and picture shows a crucial dichotomy between two 'views' of artifice: the world created by the protagonist (his play) and the world outside it (what goes in to creating a performance)."
The film also employs numerous
foreshadowingForeshadowing is a literary technique used by many different authors to provide clues for the reader to be able to predict what might occur later on in the story...
techniques. Signifying the probable contents of the package Charlie leaves with Barton, the word "head" appears sixty times in the original screenplay. In a grim nod to later events, Charlie describes his positive attitude toward his "job" of selling
insuranceInsurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a guaranteed and known...
: "Fire, theft and casualty are not things that only happen to other people."
Symbolism
Much has been written about the symbolic meanings of
Barton Fink. Rowell proposes that it is "a figurative head swelling of ideas that all lead back to the artist". The proximity of the sex scene to Audrey's murder prompts Lyons to insist: "Sex in
Barton Fink is death." Others have suggested that the second half of the movie is an extended
dream sequenceA dream sequence is a technique used in storytelling, particularly in television and film, to set apart a brief interlude from the main story. The interlude may consist of a flashback, a flashforward, a fantasy, a vision, a dream, or some other element. Commonly, dream sequences appear in many...
. Some elements of the film are clearly meant to arrive at such conclusions; for example, when Barton enters the elevator for the first time he says to Pete the doorman: "Six, please." Pete responds: "Next stop, six." An instant later, the bell sounds and as Barton exits: "This stop, six." Together, this dialogue announces the Biblical
Number of the BeastThe Number of the Beast is a concept from the Book of Revelation of the New Testament of the Christian Bible, relating to the figure of "The Beast". The number is 666 in most manuscripts of the New Testament, and in modern translations and critical editions of the Greek text...
.
The Coens, however, have denied any intent to create a systematic unity from symbols in the film. "We never, ever go into our films with anything like that in mind," Joel said in a 1998 interview. "There's never anything approaching that kind of specific intellectual breakdown. It's always a bunch of instinctive things that feel right, for whatever reason." The Coens have noted their comfort with unresolved ambiguity. Ethan said in 1991: "
Barton Fink does end up telling you what's going on to the extent that it's important to know ... What isn't crystal clear isn't intended to become crystal clear, and it's fine to leave it at that." Regarding fantasies and dream sequences, he said:
The
homoeroticHomoeroticism refers to the representation of same-sex love and desire, most especially as it is depicted or manifested in the visual arts and literature. It can also be found in performative forms; from theatre to the theatricality of uniformed movements...
overtones of Barton's relationship with Charlie are not unintentional. Although one detective demands to know if they had "some sick sex thing", their intimacy is presented as anything but deviant, and cloaked in conventions of mainstream sexuality. Charlie's first friendly overture toward his neighbor, for example, comes in the form of a standard
pick-up lineA pick-up line is a conversation opener with the intent of engaging an unfamiliar person for humor, romance, or dating...
: "I'd feel better about the damned inconvenience if you'd let me buy you a drink." The wrestling scene between Barton and Charlie is also cited as an example of homoerotic affection. "We consider that a sex scene," Joel Coen said in 2001.
Sound and music
Many of the sound effects in
Barton Fink are laden with meaning. For example, Barton is summoned by a bell while dining in New York; its sound is light and pleasant. By contrast, the eerie sustained bell of the Hotel Earle rings endlessly through the lobby, until Chet silences it. The nearby rooms of the hotel emit a constant chorus of guttural cries, moans, and assorted unidentifiable noises. These sounds coincide with Barton's confused mental state, and punctuate Charlie's claim that "I hear everything that goes on in this dump". The applause in the first scene foreshadows the tension of Barton's move west, mixed as it is with the sound of an ocean wave crashing an image which is shown onscreen soon thereafter.
Another symbolic sound is the hum of a
mosquitoMosquito is a common insect in the family Culicidae...
. Although his producer insists that these parasites don't live in Los Angeles (since "mosquitos breed in swamps; this is a desert"), its distinctive sound is heard clearly as Barton watches a bug circle overhead in his hotel room. Later, he arrives at meetings with mosquito bites on his face. The insect also figures prominently into the revelation of Audrey's death; Barton slaps a mosquito feeding on her corpse, and suddenly realizes she's been murdered. The high pitch of the mosquito's hum is echoed in the high strings used for the movie's score. During filming, the Coens were contacted by an animal rights group who expressed concern about how mosquitoes would be treated.
The score was composed by
Carter BurwellCarter Burwell is an American composer of film scores.-Life and career:Burwell was born in New York City. He graduated from King School in Stamford, Connecticut, and Harvard College....
, who has worked with the Coens since their first movie. Unlike earlier projects, however the Irish folk tune used for
Miller's Crossing and an American folk song as the basis for
Raising Arizona Burwell wrote the music for
Barton Fink without a specific inspiration. The score was released in 1996 on a compact disc, combined with the score for the Coens' film
FargoFargo is a American dark comedy, crime film produced, directed and written by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. The film is about a car salesman who hires two men to kidnap his wife for $80,000. The crime leads to a series of murders that Marge Gunderson investigates. The film stars Frances McDormand,...
.
Several songs used in the movie are laden with meaning. At one point Mayhew stumbles away from Barton and Audrey, drunk. As he wanders, he hollers the folk song "
Old Black JoeOld Black Joe or Poor Old Joe is an American folk song composed by Stephen Foster in 1860.Paul Robeson recorded a famous version of this song in the 1930s.- Lyrics :1st verse
...
". Composed by
Stephen FosterStephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music," was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century...
, it tells the tale of an elderly slave preparing to join his friends in "a better land". Mayhew's rendition of the song coincides with his condition as an oppressed employee of Capitol Pictures; it foreshadows Barton's own situation at the movie's end.
When he finishes writing his script, Barton celebrates by dancing at a USO show. The song used in this scene is a rendition of "Down South Camp Meeting", a swing tune. Its lyrics (unheard in the movie) state: "Git ready (Sing) / Here they come! The choir's all set." These lines echo the title of Barton's play,
Bare Ruined Choirs. As the celebration erupts into a melee, the intensity of the music increases, and the camera zooms into the cavernous hollow of a trumpet. This sequence mirrors the camera's zoom into a sink drain just before Audrey is murdered earlier in the film.
Sources, inspirations, and allusions
Inspiration for the film came from several sources, and it contains
allusionAn allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, a place, event, literary work, myth, or work of art, either directly or by implication. M.H. Abrams defined allusion as "a brief reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place or event, or to another literary...
s to many different people and events. At one point in the picnic scene, as Mayhew wanders drunkenly away from Barton and Audrey, he calls out: "Silent upon a peak in Darien!" This is a line from
John KeatsJohn Keats was an English poet, who became one of the key figures of the Romantic movement. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, Keats was one of the second generation Romantic poets...
's 1816 sonnet "
On First Looking into Chapman's HomerOn First Looking into Chapman's Homer is a sonnet by English Romantic poet John Keats written in October 1816. It tells of the author's astonishment at reading the works of the ancient Greek poet Homer as freely translated by the Elizabethan playwright George Chapman.The poem has become an...
". The literary reference not only demonstrates the character's encyclopedic knowledge of classic texts, but the poem's reference to the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
matches Mayhew's announcement that he will "jus' walk on down to the Pacific, and from there I'll ... improvise".
The title of Barton's play,
Bare Ruined Choirs, comes from line four of
Sonnet 73Sonnet 73, one of Shakespeare's most famous sonnets, focuses upon the theme of old age, with each of the three quatrains encompassing a metaphor. The sonnet is pensive in tone, and although it is written to a young friend Sonnet 73, one of Shakespeare's most famous sonnets, focuses upon the theme...
by
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. The poem's focus on aging and death connects to the movie's exploration of artistic difficulty. Other academic allusions are presented elsewhere, often with extreme subtlety. For example, a brief shot of the title page in a Mayhew novel indicates the publishing house of "Swain and Pappas". This is likely a reference to Marshall Swain and
George PappasGeorge Sotiros Pappas is a professor of philosophy at Ohio State University. Pappas specializes in epistemology, the history of early modern philosophy, philosophy of religion, and metaphysics...
, philosophers whose work focuses on themes explored in the movie, including the limitations of knowledge and nature of being. One critic notes that Barton's fixation on the stain across the ceiling of his hotel room matches the protagonist's behavior in the short story "The Enduring Chill" by author
Flannery O'ConnorMary Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist, short-story writer and essayist.An important voice in American literature, O'Connor wrote two novels and 32 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries...
. The name of John Goodman's character Madman Mundt is probably based on the famous huckster of televisions and cars,
Madman MuntzEarl William "Madman" Muntz was an American businessman and engineer who sold and promoted cars and consumer electronics in the United States from the 1930s until his death in 1987. He was a pioneer in television commercials with his oddball "Madman" persona – an alter ego who generated publicity...
, who was active in Los Angeles and New York in the 1940s. Interestingly, one of Muntz's wives was named Joan Barton.
Critics have suggested that the movie indirectly references the work of writers
Dante AlighieriDurante degli Alighieri , commonly known as Dante, was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, the Divina Commedia , is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.In...
(through the use of
Divine Comedy imagery) and
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer and polymath. Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, philosophy, humanism and science. Goethe's magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature, is the two-part drama Faust...
(through the presence of
FaustianJohann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play, although more appropriately it should be defined a tragicomedy, despite the very title of the work. It was published in two parts: and ...
bargains). Confounding bureaucratic structures and irrational characters, like those in the novels of
Franz KafkaFranz Kafka was a major fiction writer of the 20th century. He was born to a middle-class German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, Bohemia , Austria–Hungary...
, appear in the film, but the Coens insist the connection was not intended. "I have not read him since college," admitted Joel in 1991, "when I devoured works like
The MetamorphosisThe Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It is often cited as one of the seminal works of short fiction of the 20th century and is widely studied in colleges and universities across the western world; Elias Canetti described it as "one of the few great and perfect...
. Others have mentioned
The Castle and "
In the Penal Colony"In the Penal Colony" is a short story first published in German by Franz Kafka, written in 1914. It is set in an unnamed penal colony. Internal clues and the setting on an island suggest Octave Mirbeau's The Torture Garden as an influence...
", but I've never read them."
Clifford Odets
The character of Barton Fink is based loosely on
Clifford OdetsClifford Odets was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester.-Early life:Odets was born in Philadelphia of immigrant parents, Lou Odets and Esther Geisinger, and raised in the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high school to pursue acting...
, a playwright from New York who in the 1930s joined the Group Theatre, a gathering of dramatists which included
Harold ClurmanHarold Edgar Clurman was a visionary American theatre director and drama critic, most famous for being one of the three original founders of the New York City's Group Theatre...
,
Cheryl CrawfordCheryl Crawford was an American theatre producer and director.Born in Akron, Ohio, Crawford majored in drama at Smith College. Following graduation, she moved to New York City and enrolled at the Theatre Guild...
, and
Lee StrasbergLee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with director Harold Clurman, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective". In 1951, he became director of the non-profit Actors Studio, in New York City, considered "the...
. Their work emphasized social issues, and employed Stanislavski's system of acting to recreate human experience as truthfully as possible. Several of Odets' plays were successfully performed on Broadway, including
Awake and Sing!Awake and Sing! is a drama written by American playwright Clifford Odets. The play was initially produced by The Group Theatre in 1935.-Summary and characters:...
and
Waiting for LeftyWaiting for Lefty is a 1935 play by American playwright, Clifford Odets. Consisting of a series of related vignettes, the entire play is framed by the meeting of cab drivers who are planning a labor strike. The framing situation effectively utilizes the audience as part of the meeting.While this...
(both in 1935). When public tastes turned away from politically engaged theatre and toward the familial realism of
Eugene O'NeillEugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright, and Nobel laureate in Literature. His plays are among the first to introduce into American drama the techniques of realism, associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August...
, Odets had difficulty producing successful work, so he moved to Hollywood and spent twenty years writing film scripts.
The Coens wrote with Odets in mind; they imagined Barton Fink as "a serious dramatist, honest, politically engaged, and rather naive". As Ethan said in 1991: "It seemed natural that he comes from Group Theater and the decade of the thirties." Like Odets, Barton believes that the theatre should celebrate the trials and triumphs of everyday people; like Barton, Odets was highly egotistical. In the movie, a review of Barton's play
Bare Ruined Choirs indicates that his characters face a "brute struggle for existence ... in the most squalid corners". This wording is similar to the comment of biographer Gerald Weales that Odets' characters "struggle for life amidst petty conditions". Lines of dialogue from Barton's work are reminiscent of Odets' play
Awake and Sing!. For example, one character declares: "I'm awake now, awake for the first time." Another says: "Take that ruined choir. Make it sing."
However, many important differences exist between the two men. Joel Coen said: "Both writers wrote the same kind of plays with proletarian heroes, but their personalities were quite different. Odets was much more of an extrovert; in fact he was quite sociable even in Hollywood, and this is not the case with Barton Fink!" Although he was frustrated by his declining popularity in New York, Odets was successful during his time in Hollywood. Several of his later plays were adapted by him and others into movies. One of these,
The Big KnifeThe Big Knife is a film noir directed and produced by Robert Aldrich from a screenplay by James Poe based on the play by Clifford Odets. The film stars Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen, Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ilka Chase, and Everett Sloane.-Plot:Charlie Castle, a very...
, matches Barton's life much more than Odets'. In it, an actor becomes overwhelmed by the greed of a movie studio which hires him, and eventually commits suicide. Another similarity to Odets' work is Audrey's death, which mirrors a scene in
Deadline at DawnDeadline at Dawn is a 1946 film noir, the only film directed by stage director Harold Clurman. It was written by Clifford Odets and based on a novella by Cornell Woolrich . The RKO Radio Picture was the only cinematic collaboration between Clurman and his former Group Theatre associate,...
, a 1946 film noir written by Odets. In that film, a character wakes to find that the woman he bedded the night before has been inexplicably murdered.
Odets chronicled his difficult transition from Broadway to Hollywood in his diary, published in 1988 as
The Time Is Ripe: The 1940 Journal of Clifford Odets. The diary explored Odets' philosophical deliberations about writing and romance. He often invited women into his apartment, and describes many of his affairs in the diary. These experiences, like the extended speeches about writing, are echoed in
Barton Fink when Audrey visits and seduces Barton at the Hotel Earle. Turturro was the only member of the production who read Odets'
Journal, however, and the Coen brothers urge audiences to "take account of the difference between the character and the man".
William Faulkner
Some similarities exist between the character of W.P. Mayhew and novelist
William FaulknerWilliam Faulkner was a Nobel Prize-winning American author. One of the most influential writers of the 20th century, his reputation is based on his novels, novellas and short stories. He was also a published poet and an occasional screenwriter.Most of Faulkner's works are set in his native state...
. Like Mayhew, Faulkner became known as a preeminent writer of
Southern literatureThe Southern Renaissance was the reinvigoration of American Southern literature that began in the 1920s and 1930s with the appearance of writers such as William Faulkner, Caroline Gordon, Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Katherine Anne Porter, Allen Tate, Tennessee Williams, and Robert Penn Warren, among...
, and later worked in the movie business. Like Faulkner, Mayhew is a heavy drinker and speaks contemptuously about Hollywood. Faulkner's name appeared in the Hollywood 1940s history book
City of Nets, which the Coens read while creating
Barton Fink. Ethan explained in 1998: "I read this story in passing that Faulkner was assigned to write a wrestling picture.... That was part of what got us going on the whole Barton Fink thing." Faulkner worked on a 1932 wrestling film called
FleshFlesh is a 1932 black-and-white drama film directed by John Ford and starring Wallace Beery as a German wrestler. Some of the script was written by Moss Hart and an uncredited William Faulkner.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Polokai...
, which starred
Wallace BeeryWallace Beery was an American actor, known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, his titular role in a series of films featuring the character Sweedie, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
, the actor for whom Barton is writing. The focus on wrestling was fortuitous for the Coens, as they participated in the sport in high school.
However, the Coens disavow a significant connection between Faulkner and Mayhew, calling the similarities "superficial". "As far as the details of the character are concerned," Ethan said in 1991, "Mayhew is very different from Faulkner, whose experiences in Hollywood were not the same at all." Unlike Mayhew's inability to write due to drink and personal problems, Faulkner continued to pen novels after working in the movie business, winning several awards for fiction completed during and after his time in Hollywood.
Jack Lipnick
The character of studio mogul Jack Lipnick is a composite of several Hollywood producers, including
Harry CohnHarry Cohn was the American president and production director of Columbia Pictures.-Career:Cohn was born to a working-class German-Jewish family in New York City. In later years, he appears to have disparaged his heritage...
,
Louis B. MayerLouis Burt Mayer was a Russian-born American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
, and
Jack WarnerJack Leonard "J.L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, Canada, was the president and driving force behind the successful development of Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
three of the most powerful men in the film industry at the time in which
Barton Fink is set. Like Mayer, Lipnick is originally from the
BelarusBelarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel , Mahilyow and Vitebsk...
ian capital city
MinskMinsk is the capital and largest city in Belarus, situated on the Svislach and Niamiha rivers. Minsk is also a headquarters of the Commonwealth of Independent States . As the national capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is also the administrative centre of Minsk...
. When World War II broke out, Warner pressed for a position in the military and ordered his wardrobe department to create a military uniform for him; Lipnick does the same in his final scene. Warner once referred to writers as "schmucks with Underwoods", leading to Barton's use in the film of an Underwood typewriter.
At the same time, the Coens stress that the labyrinth of deception and difficulty Barton endures is not based on their own experience. Although Joel has said that artists tend to "meet up with
PhilistinesPhilistinism is a derogatory term used to describe a particular attitude or set of values. A person called a Philistine , is said to despise or undervalue art, beauty, intellectual content, and/or spiritual values...
", he added: "
Barton Fink is quite far from our own experience. Our professional life in Hollywood has been especially easy, and this is no doubt extraordinary and unfair." Ethan has suggested that Lipnick like the men on which he is based is in some ways a product of his time. "I don't know that that kind of character exists anymore. Hollywood is a little more bland and corporate than that now."
Cinema
The Coens have acknowledged several cinematic inspirations for
Barton Fink. Chief among these are three movies by Polish-French filmmaker
Roman PolanskiRoman Raymond Polanski is a Polish-French film director, producer, writer, and actor. Polanski began his career in Poland, and later became a critically-acclaimed director of both art house and commercial films....
:
RepulsionRepulsion is a 1965 film directed by Roman Polanski on a scenario by Gerard Brach and Roman Polanski. It was Polanski's first English language film, and was filmed in Britain, as such being his second film made outside his native Poland. The cast includes Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser,...
(1965),
Cul-de-Sac (1966), and
The TenantThe Tenant is a 1976 psychological thriller/horror film directed by Roman Polanski based upon the 1964 novel Le locataire chimérique by Roland Topor. It is also known under the French title Le Locataire. It co-stars actress Isabelle Adjani. It is the last film in Polanski's "Apartment Trilogy",...
(1976). These movies employ a mood of psychological uncertainty, coupled with eerie environments that compound the mental instability of the characters. Barton's isolation in his room at the Hotel Earle is frequently compared to that of Trelkovsky in his apartment in
The Tenant. Ethan said regarding the genre of
Barton Fink: "[I]t is kind of a Polanski movie. It is closer to that than anything else." By coincidence, Polanski was the head of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991, where
Barton Fink first premiered. This created an awkward situation. "Obviously," Joel Coen said later, "we have been influenced by his films, but at this time we were very hesitant to speak to him about it because we did not want to give the impression we were sucking up."
Other works cited as influences for
Barton Fink include
Stanley KubrickStanley Kubrick was an American director, writer, producer, and photographer of films, who lived in England during most of the last 40 years of his career...
's 1980 film
The ShiningThe Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. Though it had mixed reviews from the critics upon its release it was wildly popular with moviegoers and financially successful...
and the 1941 comedy
Sullivan's TravelsSullivan's Travels is a American comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges. It is a satire about a movie director, played by Joel McCrea, who longs to make a socially relevant drama, but eventually learns that comedies are his more valuable contribution to society. The film features one...
, written and directed by
Preston SturgesPreston Sturges , originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated screenwriter and film director born in Chicago....
. Set in an empty hotel, Kubrick's movie concerns a writer unable to proceed with his latest work. Although the Coens approve of comparisons to
The Shining, Joel suggests that Kubrick's film "belongs in a more global sense to the horror film genre".
Sullivan's Travels, released the year in which
Barton Fink is set, follows successful director John Sullivan, who decides to create a movie of deep social import not unlike Barton's desire to create entertainment for "the common man". Sullivan eventually decides that comedic entertainment is a key role for filmmakers, similar to Jack Lipnick's assertion at the end of
Barton Fink that "the audience wants to see action, adventure".
Additional allusions to films and film history abound in
Barton Fink. At one point a character discusses "Victor Soderberg"; the name is a reference to
Victor Sjöströmwas a Swedish actor, screenwriter, and film director.- Biography:...
, a Swedish director who worked in Hollywood under the name Victor Seastrom. Charlie's line about how his troubles "don't amount to a hill of beans" is a probable homage to the 1942 film
CasablancaCasablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in the words of one...
. Another similarity is that of
Barton Finks beach scene to the final moment in 1960's La Dolce VitaLa dolce vita is a 1960 film by the critically acclaimed director Federico Fellini. The film is a story of a passive journalist's week in Rome, and his search for both happiness and love that will never come...
, wherein a young woman's final line of dialogue is obliterated by the noise of the ocean. The unsettling emptiness of the Hotel Earle has also been compared to the living spaces in Key LargoKey Largo is a 1948 crime film starring Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, and Claire Trevor. This was the fourth and final film pairing of married actors Bogart and Bacall...
(1948) and Sunset Boulevard
(1950).
Themes
Two of the film's central themes the culture of entertainment production and the writing process are intertwined and relate specifically to the self-referential nature of the work (as well as the work within the work). It is a movie about a man who writes a movie based on a play, and at the center of Barton's entire opus is Barton himself. The dialogue in his play Bare Ruined Choirs
(also the first lines of the film, some of which are repeated at the end of the film as lines in Barton's screenplay The Burlyman
) give us a glimpse into Barton's self-descriptive art. The mother in the play is named "Lil", which is later revealed to be the name of Barton's own mother. In the play, "The Kid" (a representation of Barton himself) refers to his home "six flights up" the same floor where Barton resides at the Hotel Earle. Moreover, the characters' writing processes in Barton Fink
reflect important differences between the culture of entertainment production in New York's Broadway district and Hollywood.
Broadway and Hollywood
The world of Broadway theatre in Barton Fink
is a place of high culture, where the creator believes most fully that his work embodies his own values. Although he pretends to disdain his own success, Barton believes he has achieved a great victory with Bare Ruined Choirs
. He seeks praise; when his agent Garland asks if he's seen the glowing review in the Herald, Barton says "no", even though his producer had just read it to him. Barton feels close to the theatre, confident that it can help him create work that honors "the common man". The men and women who funded the production "those people", as Barton calls them demonstrate that Broadway is just as concerned with profit as Hollywood; but its intimacy and smaller scale allow the author to feel that his work has real value.
Barton does not believe Hollywood offers the same opportunity. In the film, Los Angeles is a world of false fronts and phony people. This is evident in an early line of the screenplay (filmed, but not included in the theatrical release); while informing Barton of Capitol Pictures' offer, his agent tells him: "I'm only asking that your decision be informed by a little realism—if I can use that word and Hollywood in the same breath." Later, as Barton tries to explain why he's staying at the Earle, studio head Jack Lipnick finishes his sentence, recognizing that Barton wants a place that is "less Hollywood". The assumption is that Hollywood is fake and the Earle is genuine. Producer Ben Geisler takes Barton to lunch at a restaurant featuring a mural of the "New York Cafe", a sign of Hollywood's effort to replicate the authenticity of the east coast. Lipnick's initial overwhelming exuberance is also a façade. Although he begins by telling Barton that "the writer is king here at Capitol Pictures", in the penultimate scene he insists: "If your opinion mattered, then I guess I'd resign and let you
run the studio. It doesn't, and you won't, and the lunatics are not going to run this
particular asylum."
Deception in Barton Fink is emblematic of Hollywood's focus on low culture, its relentless desire to efficiently produce formulaic entertainment for the sole purpose of economic gain. Capitol Pictures assigns Barton to write a wrestling picture with superstar
Wallace BeeryWallace Beery was an American actor, known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, his titular role in a series of films featuring the character Sweedie, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
in a leading role. Although Lipnick declares otherwise, Geisler assures Barton that "it's just a
B pictureA B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture conceived neither as an arthouse film nor as pornography. In its original usage, during the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double...
". Audrey tries to help the struggling writer by telling him: "Look, it's really just a formula. You don't have to type your soul into it." This formula is made clear by Lipnick, who asks Barton in their first meeting whether the main character should have a love interest or take care of an orphaned child. Barton shows his iconoclasm by answering: "Both, maybe?" In the end, his inability to conform to the studio's norms destroys not only Barton himself, but also producer Geisler.
A similar depiction of Hollywood appears in
Nathanael WestNathanael West was a US author, screenwriter and satirist.- Early life :...
's 1939 novel
The Day of the LocustThe Day of the Locust is a 1939 novel by American author Nathanael West, set in Hollywood, California during the Great Depression, depicting the alienation and desperation of a disparate group of individuals who exist at the fringes of the movie industry....
, which many critics see as an important precursor to Barton Fink
. Set in a run-down apartment complex, the book describes a painter reduced to work decorating movie sets. It portrays Hollywood as crass and exploitative, devouring talented individuals in its neverending quest for profit. In both West's novel and Barton Fink, protagonists suffer under the oppressive industrial machine of the movie studio.
Writing
The movie contains further self-referential material, as a film about a writer having difficulty writing (written by the Coen brothers while they were having difficulty writing another project). Barton is trapped between his own desire to create meaningful art and the need of Capitol Pictures to use its standard conventions to earn profits. Audrey's advice about following the formula would save Barton if he heeded it. He does not, but when he puts the mysterious package on his writing desk, she may be helping him posthumously, in other ways. The movie itself toys with standard screenplay formulas. As with Mayhew's scripts, Barton Fink contains a "good wrestler" (Barton, it seems) and a "bad wrestler" (Charlie) who "confront" each other at the end. But in typical Coen fashion, the lines of good and evil are blurred, and the supposed hero in fact reveals himself to be deaf to the pleadings of his "common man" neighbor. By blurring the lines between reality and surreal experience, the film subverts the "simple morality tales" and "road maps" offered to Barton as easy paths for the writer to follow.
However, the filmmakers point out that Barton Fink is not meant to represent the Coens themselves. "Our life in Hollywood has been particularly easy", they once said. "The film isn't a personal comment." Still, universal themes of the creative process are explored throughout the movie. During the picnic scene, for example, Mayhew asks Barton: "Ain't writin' peace?" Barton pauses, then says: "No, I've always found that writing comes from a great inner pain." Such exchanges led critic William Rodney Allen to call Barton Fink "an autobiography of the life of the Coens' minds, not of literal fact".
Fascism
Several of the film's elements, including the setting at the start of World War II, have led some critics to highlight parallels to the rise of
fascismFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
at the time. For example, the detectives who visit Barton at the Hotel Earle are named "Mastrionatti" and "Deutsch" Italian and German names, evocative of the regimes of
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
and
Benito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
. Their contempt for Barton is clear: "Fink. That's a Jewish name, isn't it? ... I didn't think this dump was restricted." Later, just before killing his last victim, Charlie says "Heil Hitler". Jack Lipnick (whose name may be a nod to
LeipzigLeipzig is, with a population of 515,459, the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany.-Origins:Leipzig's name is derived from the Slavic word Lipsk, which means "settlement where the lime trees stand"....
, Germany) hails originally from the
BelarusBelarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel , Mahilyow and Vitebsk...
ian capital city
MinskMinsk is the capital and largest city in Belarus, situated on the Svislach and Niamiha rivers. Minsk is also a headquarters of the Commonwealth of Independent States . As the national capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is also the administrative centre of Minsk...
, which was a center of worker solidarity at the time and was occupied in the 1940s by the Nazis under
Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 km front...
.
"[I]t's not forcing the issue to suggest that
the HolocaustThe Holocaust , also known as The Shoah is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a program of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany,...
hovers over Barton Fink", writes biographer Ronald Bergan. Others see a more specific message in the film, particularly Barton's obliviousness to Charlie's homicidal tendencies. Critic
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter.He is known for his film review column and for two television programs Sneak Previews and Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel...
wrote in his 1991 review that the Coens intended to create an allegory for the rise of Nazism. "They paint Fink as an ineffectual and impotent left-wing intellectual, who sells out while telling himself he is doing the right thing, who thinks he understands the 'common man' but does not understand that, for many common men, fascism had a seductive appeal." However, he goes on to say: "It would be a mistake to insist too much on this aspect of the movie...."
Other critics are more demanding. M. Keith Booker writes:For their part, the Coens deny any intention to present an allegorical message. They chose the detectives' names deliberately, but "we just wanted them to be representative of the Axis world powers at the time. It just seemed kind of amusing. It's a tease. All that stuff with Charlie—the "Heil Hitler!" business—sure, it's all there, but it's kind of a tease." In 2001 Joel responded to a question about critics who provide extended comprehensive analysis: "That's how they've been trained to watch movies. In Barton Fink, we may have encouraged it—like teasing animals at the zoo. The movie is intentionally ambiguous in ways they may not be used to seeing."
Slavery
Although subdued in dialogue and imagery, the theme of
slaverySlavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation...
appears several times in the movie. Mayhew's crooning of the
spiritualSpirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
tune "Old Black Joe" depicts him as enslaved to the movie studio, not unlike the song's narrator who pines for "my friends from the cotton fields away". One brief shot of the door to Mayhew's workspace shows the title of the movie he is supposedly writing: Slave Ship. This is a reference to
a 1937 movieSlave Ship is a 1937 film directed by Tay Garnett, starring Warner Baxter and Wallace Beery. The supporting cast includes Mickey Rooney, George Sanders, Jane Darwell, and Joseph Schildkraut....
written by Mayhew's inspiration William Faulkner and starring Wallace Beery, for whom Barton is composing a script in the movie.
The symbol of the slave ship is furthered by specific set designs, including the round window in Ben Geisler's office which resembles a
portholeA porthole is a small, generally circular, window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Porthole is actually an abbreviated term for "port hole window"...
, as well as the walkway leading to Mayhew's bungalow, which resembles the boarding ramp of a watercraft. Several lines of dialogue make clear by the film's end that Barton has become a slave to the studio: "[T]he contents of your head," Lipnick's assistant tells him, "are the property of Capitol Pictures". After Barton turns in his script, Lipnick delivers an even more brutal punishment: "Anything you write will be the property of Capitol Pictures. And Capitol Pictures will not produce anything you write." This contempt and control is representative of the opinions expressed by many writers in Hollywood at the time. As
Arthur MillerArthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include awards-winning plays such as All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and The Crucible.Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and...
said in his review of Barton Fink: "The only thing about Hollywood that I am sure of is that its mastication of writers can never be too wildly exaggerated."
"The Common Man"
During the first third of the film, Barton speaks constantly of his desire to lionize "the common man" in his work. In one speech he declares: "The hopes and dreams of the common man are as noble as those of any king. It's the stuff of life—why shouldn't it be the stuff of theater? Goddamnit, why should that be a hard pill to swallow? Don't call it new
theater, Charlie; call it real
theater. Call it our theater." Yet, despite his rhetoric, Barton is totally unable (or unwilling) to appreciate the humanity of the "common man" living next door to him. He makes the above speech, for example, after rudely interrupting Charlie, as he says: "I could tell you some stories." Later in the film, Charlie explains that he has brought various horrors upon him because "you DON'T LISTEN!" In another scene, Barton symbolically demonstrates his deafness to the world by stuffing his ears with cotton to block the sound of his ringing telephone.
Barton's position as screenwriter is of particular consequence to his relationship with "the common man". By refusing to listen to his neighbor, Barton cannot validate Charlie's existence in his writing with disastrous results. Not only is Charlie stuck in a job which demeans him, but he cannot (at least in Barton's case) have his story told. More centrally, the film traces the evolution of Barton's understanding of "the common man": At first he is an abstraction to be lauded from a vague distance. Then he becomes a complex individual with fears and desires. Finally he shows himself to be a powerful individual in his own right, capable of extreme forms of destruction and therefore feared and/or respected.
The complexity of "the common man" is also explored through the oft-mentioned "life of the mind". While expounding on his duty as a writer, Barton drones: "I gotta tell you, the life of the mind ... There's no road map for that territory ... and exploring it can be painful. The kind of pain most people don't know anything about." Barton assumes that he is privy to thoughtful creative considerations while Charlie is not. This delusion shares the film's climax, as Charlie runs through the hallway of the Earle, shooting the detectives with a shotgun and screaming: "LOOK UPON ME! I'LL SHOW YOU THE LIFE OF THE MIND!!" Charlie's "life of the mind" is no less complex than Barton's; in fact, some critics consider it more so.
Charlie's understanding of the world is depicted as omniscient, as when he asks Barton about "the two lovebirds next door", despite the fact that they are several doors away. When Barton asks how he knows about them, Charlie responds: "Seems like I hear everything that goes on in this dump. Pipes or somethin'." His total awareness of the events at the Earle demonstrate the kind of understanding needed to show real empathy, as described by Audrey. This theme returns when Charlie explains in his final scene: "Most guys I just feel sorry for. Yeah. It tears me up inside, to think about what they're going through. How trapped they are. I understand it. I feel for 'em. So I try to help them out."
Religion
Themes of religious salvation and allusions to Biblical texts appear only briefly in Barton Fink, but their presence pervades the story. While Barton is experiencing his most desperate moment of confusion and despair, he opens the drawer of his desk and finds a
Gideon'sGideons International is an evangelical Protestant organization dedicated to distributing copies of the Bible in over 80 languages and more than 175 countries of the world to those who might not otherwise encounter it, most famously in hotel and motel rooms...
Holy Bible. He opens it "randomly" to Chapter 2 in the Book of Daniel, and reads from it: "And the king, Nebuchadnezzar, answered and said to the Chaldeans, I recall not my dream; if ye will not make known unto me my dream, and its interpretation, ye shall be cut in pieces, and of your tents shall be made a dunghill." This passage reflects Barton's inability to make sense of his own experiences (wherein Audrey has been "cut in pieces"), as well as the "hopes and dreams" of "the common man". Nebuchadnezzar is also the title of a novel that Mayhew gives to Barton as a "little entertainment" to "divert you in your sojourn among the Philistines".
Mayhew alludes to "the story of Solomon's mammy", a reference to
BathshebaAccording to the Hebrew Bible, Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. She was the mother of Solomon, who succeeded David as king....
, who gave birth to
SolomonSolomon is a figure described in the Hebrew Bible as a King of Israel and later in the Qur'an, where he is described as a Prophet. The biblical accounts identify Solomon as the son of David...
after her lover
DavidDavid was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Bible. He is depicted as a righteous king, although not without fault, as well as an acclaimed warrior, musician and poet .The biblical chronology sets his life c.1037–970 BCE, his reign over Judah c.1007–1000 BCE,...
had her husband
UriahUriah the Hittite was a soldier in King David’s army mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. He was the husband of Bathsheba, and was murdered by order of David by having the soldiers retreat from him in battle. Uriah's wife was pregnant by King David through an adulterous affair...
killed. Although Audrey cuts Mayhew off by praising his book (which Audrey herself may have written), the reference foreshadows the love triangle which evolves among the three characters of Barton Fink. Rowell points out that Mayhew is murdered (presumably by Charlie) soon after Barton and Audrey have sex. Another Biblical reference comes when Barton flips to the front of the Bible in his desk drawer, and sees his own words transposed into the Book of Genesis. This is seen as a representation of his hubris as self-conceived omnipotent master of creation, or alternatively as a playful juxtaposition demonstrating Barton's hallucinatory state of mind.
Reception
Barton Fink
premiered in May 1991 at the Cannes Film Festival. Beating competition which included Jacques RivetteJacques Rivette is a French film director.With Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette is one of the more experimental of the French New Wave directors...
's La Belle NoiseuseLa Belle Noiseuse is a 1991 film directed by Jacques Rivette and starring Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin, and Emmanuelle Béart. Its title means "The Beautiful Troublemaker"...
, Spike LeeShelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He also teaches film at New York University and Columbia University...
's Jungle FeverJungle Fever is a 1991 drama film directed by Spike Lee, starring Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra. It was Lee's fifth feature-length film.-Plot:...
and David MametDavid Alan Mamet is an American author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and film director. His works are known for their clever, terse, sometimes vulgar dialogue and arcane stylized phrasing, as well as for their exploration of masculinity...
's HomicideHomicide is a crime drama written and directed by David Mamet, and released in 1991. The film's cast includes Joe Mantegna, William H. Macy, and Ving Rhames. It was entered into the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...
, the Coen brothers' film won three awards: Best Director, Best Actor, and the top prize of Palme d'OrThe Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded to competing films at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film...
. This sweep of awards in major categories at Cannes was extremely rare, and some critics felt that the jury was too generous to the exclusion of other worthy entries. Worried that the triple victory could set a precedent which would undervalue other films, Cannes decided after the 1991 festival to limit each movie to a maximum of two awards.
Barton Fink
was an overwhelming critical success. The movie-review aggregator site Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films. The name derives from the historical cliché of throwing tomatoes and other produce at stage performers if a performance was particularly bad.- History :...
lists a 91% favorable rating on its "Tomatometer" (based on 46 reviews), with all but one of its "Top Critics" giving it a positive review. The aggregator MetacriticMetacritic is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
lists a 69% favorable rating, based on 19 published reviews. The Washington PostThe Washington Post is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Washington, D.C. and is the city's oldest paper, founded in 1877. Being located in the nation's capital, it has a particular emphasis on national politics and international affairs...
critic Rita Kempley described Barton Fink
as "certainly one of the year's best and most intriguing films". The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
critic Vincent CanbyVincent Canby was an American film critic.Canby was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Katharine Anne and Lloyd Canby. He became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there...
called it "an unqualified winner" and "a fine dark comedy of flamboyant style and immense though seemingly effortless technique". Critic Jim Emerson called Barton Fink
"the Coen brothers' most deliciously, provocatively indescribable picture yet".
Some critics disliked the obtuse plot and deliberately enigmatic ending. Chicago Reader
critic Jonathan RosenbaumJonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987 until 2008, when he retired at the age of 65...
warned of the Coens' "adolescent smarminess and comic-book cynicism", and described Barton Fink
as "a midnight-movie gross-out in Sunday-afternoon art-house clothing". In a 1994 interview, Joel dismissed criticism of unclear elements in their films: "People have a problem dealing with the fact that our movies are not straight-ahead. They would prefer that the last half of Barton Fink
just be about a screenwriter's writing-block problems and how they get resolved in the real world...." Talk show host Larry KingLawrence Harvey Zeiger , better known by his stage name Larry King, is an American television and radio host.He is recognized in the United States as one of the premier broadcast interviewers. King has conducted some 40,000 interviews with politicians, athletes, entertainers, and other newsmakers...
expressed approval of the movie, despite its uncertain conclusion. Writing in USA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth...
, he said: "The ending is something I'm still thinking about and if they accomplished that, I guess it worked."
The movie opened in the United States on eleven screens on August 23, 1991, and earned $268,561 during its opening weekend. During its theatrical release, Barton Fink
grossed $6,153,939 in the United States. That the movie failed to recoup the expenses of production amused film producer Joel SilverJoel Silver is an American Hollywood film producer, director and co-inventor of the sport of Ultimate.-Biography:Silver grew up in South Orange, New Jersey. He attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey and Northfield Mount Hermon School, where he is credited with inventing the sport...
, who the Coens would later work with in The Hudsucker ProxyThe Hudsucker Proxy is a 1994 screwball comedy fantasy film written, produced and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The script was co-written by Sam Raimi, who also served as the second unit director...
: "I don't think it made $5 million, and it cost $9 million to make. [The Coen brothers have] a reputation for being weird, off-center, inaccessible." The film was released in VHS home video format on 18 August 1993, and a DVD edition was made available on 20 May 2003. The DVD contains a gallery of still photos, theatrical trailers, and eight deleted scenes.
Possible sequel
The Coen brothers have stated that they are interested in making a sequel to Barton Fink
called Old Fink.
The film would take place in the 1960s, around the same time period as the Coens' A Serious ManA Serious Man is a feature film written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It was released on October 2, 2009 in the United States.-Plot summary:...
. "It's the
summer of loveThe Summer of Love refers to the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, creating a phenomenon of cultural and political rebellion...
and [Fink is] teaching at Berkeley. He ratted on a lot of his friends to the
House Un-American Activities committeeThe House Committee on Un-American Activities was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
," said Joel Coen. The brothers have stated that they have had talks with John Turturro in reprising his role as Fink, but they were waiting "until he was actually old enough to play the part."
External links