Summary of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Rating: Null/10 (27 September 2011)

The film that I choose was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The film first takes place in a hospital where character Daisy (Cate Blanchett) is on her death bed. Alongside Daisy is her daughter Caroline (Joeanna Sayler). Daisy ask her daughter Caroline to read her the diary of an friend Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt). The diary is filled with Benjamin's extra-ordinary life as he was born an old man and becomes young as time progresses. Benjamin's mother dies as she is giving birth to him, and his father who is ashamed of the way his new born son looks abandons him on the front step of a senior citizen home. Benjamin is then found by the women who raises him Queenie (Taraji P. Henson). At the senior citizen home where Benjamin is living he meets and falls in love with Daisy (Cate Blanchett). As the two grow up, Daisy grows up to become a older woman while Benjamin is growing younger with time. There different paths and walks of life separate them but later on in the film they are reunited and struggle with the age differences.
The theme of this film is wisdom comes with age, and age dictates who we are. Throughout the film as Button (Brad Pitt) grows younger and experiences many adventures he learns and gains more knowledge even though he is getting younger. Button is not only born with the face and body of an old man, but the emotions and feelings of an old man as well. Button is also born with the knowledge of an old man. When Button is a newborn he enjoys the company of older men, but when he ages physically but gets younger mentally he is more social and outgoing and enjoys the company of people his age.
The lighting in this film has some relevance to the theme. When Daisy is laying in the hospital bed the lighting seems to be more deem for this is a sad time for Daisy. However when the story is been told and in Daisy's younger days the lighting on her face was much brighter. When Button is first born as an old man the lighting in these scenes are more dim but as Button become younger in time the lighting was brighter.