The film Misery (1990) was directed by Rob Reiner and is based on the novel ‘Misery’ written by Stephen King. The film involves two main characters Paul Sheldon, a famous writer, and Annie Wilkes, a nurse who rescues Paul.
Paul Sheldon
We are introduced to Paul Sheldon, who is sitting in a dark room, smoking a cigarette and drinking a glass of champagne as he writes a manuscript, as a distraction from ‘misery’, a series of novels which he has written previously. For deeper concentration in his writing, Sheldon heads on his way to a remote getaway in Colorado. However on his way to Colorado there is a blizzard which reduces road visibility and as a result he heads off road and crashes into thick snow; there he is rescued by a woman named Annie Wilkes. She brings Paul to her house in the middle of nowhere and cares for him, due to the accident Paul is left incapacitated and therefore is bedridden. He is very grateful to Annie who, in the beginning, looks after Paul very well. He realises that Annie is a big fan of his book ‘Misery’ and the character of which it is based on, Misery Chastain. When Annie realised that Paul had killed off Misery in the book, she had an outburst of anger demanding him to resurrect misery the way she wanted him to.
Paul realised that Annie was a psychopath and he tried several ways of escaping. However he didn’t want to try and escape in an obvious way that she would see. To start with he took some medication from a cupboard in order to poison her during dinner. He was very kind to her to ensure she wasn’t suspicious of his plans, she was very pleased when he asked her for dinner to speak of Misery, the character in his books, she thought they were getting closer together. However his plan did not succeed during dinner and when she noticed the medicine had disappeared she broke both his legs leaving him bedridden, ensuring he wasn’t able to escape so that he would continue the story of Misery the way she wanted. Paul knew he had to plan something less obvious in order to get away. He maintained his kind acts towards her to retain her sudden outbursts, he told her he loved her and promised to finish the story, without swear words and violence as she previously got angry with him because of the novel having explicit language. He was clever with his last attempt of escaping, he asked her to go to the shop to buy him some more paper and ink in order for him to finish the novel as a gift for her, manipulating her into thinking he was doing good for her. Whilst she was at the shop he made his way to the kitchen from which he took a knife…when she returned he burned the novel in front of her then stabbed her to death after she killed the sheriff in front of him.
Throughout the film we empathise with Paul, due to the situation in which he’s placed. Annie becomes more violent towards him, which changes him as a person. However we know that he is a clever man, through the literature he creates. We see that he is very caring from the start when he is with Annie and shares his novel with her. We also know he is a loving character as he tries so helplessly and desperately to escape so that he is re-united with his family. He uses his intelligence to escape through manipulative acts, which he is forced to do, we know that he has to do these acts to get away from Annie so even though the things he does are acts of evil, he was tortured by Annie and so we are desperate for him as well.
I think Paul has the right ethics and morals throughout, at the start we see he is a caring man, trying to please his fans but exploring different types of writing to interest a wider audience to his novels, he changes his style of writing through using explicit language etc. to appeal to his target audience, all he wants to do is please his fans and be a loving father and husband. When with Annie, even though she is horrible to him he still continues to be kind to her. However this kindness turns into manipulative acts in order to escape, but she puts him through a lot which drives him to this and so I believe his actions are backed with good reasoning as he wishes to continue his writing and be with his family.
Annie Wilkes
When we are first introduced to Annie she is rescuing Paul from a car accident, she takes him from the scene and brings him back to her home in the countryside where she gives him a bed, food and medicine. She comes across as a very kind, loving, caring character, looking out for Paul’s well-being. She wears a woolly jumper and plain trousers, giving us the impression of an innocent, lonely individual, who is taking Paul into the warmth, giving him maximum comfort. We then discover that she is a big fan of Paul’s novels, in particular the main character of his books, being Misery. However we later realise that her liking for his books is a large obsession rather than just a fan, when she has an outburst after realising the main character is killed off in the books. When Paul notices the tablets which she has been giving him are sleeping tablets, we soon become known to the fact that she is a psychopath, who wishes Paul to change his novels so the ending is happy and the way she wants. Her obsession is so big for the main character of the book, that she tortures Paul by breaking legs so that he is incapacitated and therefore is forced to remain in the house to finish the novel in a way which will please her. Towards the end of the film she is very close to being caught by the Sheriff, she hides Paul in the basement when she sees the Sheriff coming, but before he is able to find out the truth she kills him in her home, and Paul is forced to kill her.
We learn that Annie, the antagonist, is a very deceiving character, who comes across as loving and kind. She always has a large smile upon her face and in the beginning treats Paul with a lot of respect. However we soon discover her split personality when she has several outbursts leading to her torturing Paul and killing the Sheriff. She is a very manipulative character who has a deep obsession with the protagonist in the film, Paul, which leads to the audience learning she is psychopathic and does as much as she can in order to get what she wants.
She is a very immoral and unethical character due to the acts she commits. Her title is a nurse and therefore we expect her to take the role of looking out for the larger population, instead she does the opposite and kills a person whilst torturing another; these are not acts we expect from a smiley, innocent woman in her early 40’s. Unlike Paul, her acts of evil are not backed with good reasoning instead they are backed by an obsession. She does however appear to be moral and ethical at first when she rescues Paul, and I don’t believe her intentions were to cause hurt and pain, but she feels this was forced upon her.
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