Nocturnal Animals follows Susan Morrow, a wealthy art gallery owner. Susan is rich, sad, bitter and awake most of the time. Her guilt for past mistakes kept tormenting her and made her life stingy. One day, she received a manuscript of a novel written by her separated ex-husband, Edward Sheffield. Moreau left Sheffield 20 years ago to go to a rich man. To this day, Sheffield has also issued an invitation to Moreau to come to Los Angeles for dinner.
Susan begins to read the novel, which follows a very dark and disturbing plot. As the marriage failed, she devoted more and more to novels. The novel was also named “Nocturnal Animals”, and Sheffield used this nickname to call Susan. Tom Ford, starring Jack Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams, directed this gorgeous movie. The end of the nocturnal animal has no clear explanation. To avoid spoilers, please watch the movie before reading further.
Amy Adams plays the rich, bitter and sad Susan Morrow/nocturnal creature.
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What is Edward’s nocturnal animal novel about?
The novel “Nocturnal Animals” tells the story of a road trip between Tony Hastings and his wife Laura and his daughter India. The trip seemed to go well until they met a sadistic trio-Ray, Lu and Turk. The trio forced Tony to let the car off the road. Tony, helpless, sees Ray and Turk kidnapping his wife and daughter, while leaving him to Lu. He was forced by Lou to drive Lei’s car to the end of the road, where he abandoned him. When Lei and Lu returned to Tony, Tony had fled to the nearest farmhouse and contacted the police there.
With the help of Detective Roberto “Bobby” Andes, Tony found Laura and India in a hut. Both of them were raped and then killed by these three men, leaving Tony heartbroken and guilty. A year later, Andes arrested Lu on the grounds of being an accomplice in the murder of Laura and India. At the same time, Turk was caught in a crossfire and died in a robbery. This makes Lei the only culprit still out of the clutches of justice. The Andes finally arrested Ray. However, the evidence of Ray’s involvement in the crime is only indirect. So Andes must let him go. The Andes, not to mention Tony, is understandable to be dissatisfied.
Tony and his family met Ray, Lu, and Turk.
How does the novel end?
Andes, who is about to retire and suffers from advanced lung cancer, works with Tony to keep things in their hands. They kidnapped Lei and Lu together. But when the two tried to escape, Andes managed to shoot Lu down. At the same time, Lei managed to escape. However, Tony tracked him down himself. They finally came to the hut where Ray and his accomplices raped and killed Laura and India. Ray confessed his crime and said Tony was weak. Tony finally killed Ray with a deadly shot. However, Ray also hit Tony on the head with an iron rod before his death, making Tony blind. When Tony fell on his gun, he accidentally shot himself with the gun and died. This marks the end of the dark story of nocturnal animal novels.
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Edward and Susan’s divorce explained
After completing the novel Nocturnal Animals, Susan began to recall her life with Edward. She met him in college, where they fell in love with each other and started their relationship. However, Susan’s mother did not approve of Susan’s relationship with working-class artists. Saying that he lacks the motivation to pursue and achieve his goals, her mother advised her to give up. However, Susan ignores her mother’s affair and finally marries Edward. However, as Susan moved further and further away from Edward’s wishes, their marriage slowly broke down. Susan once supported her mother’s point of view, and now she has adopted herself. The marriage ended with Susan and the wealthy Hutton cheating on Edward. Later, she divorced Edward and married Hutton. Edward tried to mend things and return to her, but stopped when he discovered that Susan had secretly aborted their child.
A still from Nocturnal Animals (2016).
Nocturnal animal ending explanation
The end of the nocturnal creature saw Susan dress up excitedly for a dinner date with Edward. Cheryl set up the restaurant, ordered a cocktail and waited for Edward. As her cocktail glass and dining room were empty, Susan sat at the table alone, waiting for Edward. So what does this ending mean? The most logical and popular explanation is that this is Edward’s revenge on Susan. He deliberately fabricated this plan, including novels, in return for the recovery of Shan. He wanted to show her the feeling of rejection or betrayal. As Susan was still waiting in the restaurant, Edward never showed up, feeling what he felt many years ago. To me, the ending seems to be unnecessary overcorrection and a bit misogynistic. Of course, Susan wronged Edward earlier, but when she was already in the worst and vulnerable state, he supported her with a small plan.
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