The storm outside reflects the storm inside as the story of Benjamin Button is told.

Rating: Null/10 (30 July 2011)

Waiting for death to take her from a hospital in New Orleans, Daisy Williams (Cate Blanchett) asks her daughter Caroline (Julia Ormand) to tell her the story of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) one last time as he had chronicled in his diary. As the story is told, a hurricane roars on outside the hospital and ultimately sets the mood for the rest of the movie. Daisy, Caroline and Benjamin's lives are ones filled with a storm of lies, betrayals, darkness and light. Changes in the mood and setting, or the storm, are marked by darkness and shadows, struggle and tragedy.
The story begins with a backwards ticking clock that was made by a clockmaker for Grand Central Station in New York City. On the day of the reveal to the public, we learn the blind clockmaker purposefully made the clock to count time backwards in hopes that those who died in World War II would be able to rise again, come home, and live their lives in full. This helps to set the theme of the movie, which reminds us that what may be ideal in our minds might not always work out the way we want in to in real life.
Benjamin was born the night that World War II ended. He was abandoned by his biological father, Thomas Button (Jason Fleming), after his biological mother died in childbirth. His father was ashamed at the old and wrinkled Benjamin and left him on the step of a senior citizens home where Queenie (Taraji P. Henson), a black woman, who was an employee there, found him. He grew up in the home and that is where Daisy and Benjamin met when they were both young. Benjamin eventually left the senior citizen home and made a life for himself at sea working on a tugboat, joining the war and living his life. Benjamin's life, while not lonely, was still dark at times, when the people who grew up with would die and he was not able to be a real child. He was unsure how to act at times, afraid of what others thought of him or how they viewed him.
Benjamin returns to New Orleans and Queenie, where he meets up again with Daisy. The attraction is still palpable and they agree to go out on a date but it quickly ends when Benjamin spurns Daisy's advances and she leaves him sitting at the lake. After this time, Benjamin learns the truth about his biological father, Daisy continues to dance ballet and lives her life but after an accident in Paris leaves her with an injury to her leg and unable to dance or walk. The age difference is not more than five years, but they are obviously at very different points in their lives, with Benjamin being more mature and ready to settle and Daisy just starting to live her life.
Daisy, finally able to walk again, visits Benjamin at Queenie's house. They both realize they still love each other deeply and travel on the sailboat Thomas Button left Benjamin when he died. They return from their travels only to learn that Queenie has died. Daisy and Benjamin buy a house and move in together and open up a dance studio where Daisy teaches. As Benjamin watches her dance one day, she reveals that she is pregnant. Benjamin is concerned that the baby will be born like him but when their daughter is born, she is perfectly healthy. It is at this moment when reading the story that Caroline realizes that Benjamin is her father, not the man she assumed was her father all those years. She is quite upset and leaves the room, only to return and finish the story from the diary. This part of their lives, the calm before the storm and the happiness that exists, is shown in light and hope.
Benjamin, who is worried about being able to care for his wife and child as he grows younger and younger, tells Daisy that he wants Caroline to have a real father and that he wants to leave before she can remember him. On Caroline's first birthday, Benjamin sells the factory, the sailboat, the summer cottage and his assets, leaves all money in the bank and walks out. This is when Daisy tells Caroline she met her step father and they married so she would have the best life possible. You see through Caroline's emotions that she finally understands her mother, why she did what she did, to not only protect Caroline but to give her the best life possible. The storm climaxes here and starts to weaken.
Benjamin drifts through his life, traveling, working odd jobs and just wandering through the world. One day, Benjamin, who is now younger than 18, is found living in an abandoned building in New Orleans. CPS looked through his diary, finds Daisy and contacts her. He does not remember her but feels like he should know her. She moves into Queenie's old house to care for Benjamin as he grows younger in age but experiences all of the illnesses of an older person and can't remember living his life. He finally passes, as an infant, in Daisy's arms. The storm, that we now know is Hurricane Katrina, makes landfall and we see the medical staff making preparations to evacuate the hospital, Daisy passes and we hear Benjamin recounting the people he met during his lifetime. We also see the storeroom, where the backwards ticking clock is, being flooded in the storm.