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Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a 2004 film, directed by Brad Silberling. It is based on the first three books in Lemony Snicket's popular series of children's novels: The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window. The film follows the adventures of three newly orphaned children (played by Emily Browning, Liam Aiken, and Kara & Shelby Hoffman) who try to escape from the deranged Count Olaf (Jim Carrey) in a series of different adventures. Co-stars include Jude Law as Lemony Snicket, Timothy Spall as Mr. Poe, Billy Connolly as Uncle Monty, Meryl Streep as Aunt Josephine, and Cedric the Entertainer as the Constable. The film takes place in a highly stylized, highly anachronistic United States (the letter that Violet is reading near the end has a Boston address). As in the books, exactly where and when the story takes place is unclear, and there are many mixed messages. The movie has been praised for its creative sets and costumes, all of which have a dark, gothic feel, leading to a highly unusual and creative visual motif.
Story The film is narrated by Lemony Snicket (played here by Jude Law), who occasionally appears in silhouette, writing the story on a typewriter in what appears to be the interior of a clock tower. Inventive Violet Baudelaire and her siblings: intelligent Klaus and sharp-toothed baby Sunny, are orphaned when a mysterious fire destroys their parents' mansion. They are placed in the care of bank manager Mr. Poe, who entrusts them to their "closest relative." However, misinterpreting the phrase, Mr. Poe chooses the relative who lives the shortest distance away, the obnoxious Count Olaf. Olaf promises to take care of the orphans "as if they were actually wanted" but in fact, he is only interested in the huge fortune that Violet will inherit as soon as she turns 18. In the meantime, he treats them like slaves. An example of this maltreatment is when Olaf slaps Klaus for daring to talk back to him. Eventually, after a failed attempt by Olaf to murder them for the money, Mr. Poe sends the children to live with their uncle, Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, a cheerfully eccentric herpetologist with a well-stocked reptile room, who is planning a trip to Peru. Unfortunately their idyllic sojourn with Monty is cut short when Olaf turns up in disguise, pretending to be a man named Stephano, a replacement for Monty's assistant Gustav who was murdered by Olaf so he could take his place. The Baudelaires see through the disguise instantly, and manage to warn Monty. Monty was convinced he was an imposter trying to spy, however, too late to prevent Olaf from murdering him. The Baudelaires are forced to move on again, this time to the shores of Lake Lachrymose, where their Aunt, Josephine Anwhistle, resides. She seems to have a phobia of almost everything, and yet lives in a house precariously perched on the edge of a cliff, with a wide window overlooking the lake. The house appears to contain clues to the cause of the fire that killed their parents. Before the children can discover more, Olaf turns up again, disguised as a sailor, and courts Josephine. The orphans soon discover that Josephine has disappeared. She has left what looks like a suicide note, but which is actually a coded message telling them that she is hiding in Curdled Cave on the lakeshore (Klaus is the one who discovers this). Before they can follow, the house is torn apart by a hurricane. The Baudelaires escape, eventually find Josephine, and attempt to take her to safety. Unfortunately, Count Olaf finds them first, taking the Baudelaires and leaving Josephine at the mercy of the deadly Lachrymose Leeches. Back at Olaf's home, he concocts another scheme that involves staging a play starring himself and Violet. In the play, his character will marry Violet's character, but in such a way that the marriage will actually be legal, giving him access to her money. To ensure Violet's cooperation he holds Sunny hostage. While the play is being performed, Klaus attempts to rescue Sunny. In doing so, he also discovers a device (an eye shaped mirror) which seems to have been the cause of the original fire. Olaf's plan is thwarted at the last minute when Klaus uses the mirror to burn the marriage certificate. At the end, the narrator tells us that Count Olaf is sentenced to suffer everything the Baudelaire's experienced and then spend his life behind bars. However, the narrator immediately adds that he only wishes Olaf was caught. In reality, Olaf and his theater troope escaped from the authorities. At the end of the film, the Baudelaires find a letter sent to them from their parents. The film ends before we can see what is inside the letter. Cast Comparison with the source material Like the original books, the movie contains various clues to the mystery of the Baudelaire parents' deaths. For instance, the children discover that all of their relatives seemed to own spyglasses, and acquire one themselves at the end. Count Olaf has an eye-shaped tattoo on his ankle, and Aunt Josephine's wide window is also eye-shaped. The mysterious initials "V.F.D." can also be spotted at at least one point. There are quite a few differences between the books and the film. Many of these involve some dark content being toned down. An example of this is the ending of The Wide Window. In the film, Olaf leaves Aunt Josephine alone to fend for herself on a sinking boat. The book's ending, however, is far more sinister: Olaf pushes Josephine into the water, and the torn remnants of her lifejacket are later discovered. The film makers also added to (and, in some opinions, convoluted) the "V.F.D." mystery by adding a spyglass that the members possess. So far, Lemony Snicket has not incorporated such a device into his plot. A small part was added to the movie in the scene in which Olaf tries to kill the Baudelaires by stopping his car on the rail track, locking them inside, and waiting for the train to come. Luckily, the orphans escape by using one of Violet's inventions to flip the railroad switch just as Mr. Poe arrives. Another change from the source material is that Count Olaf is shown to be responsible for starting the fire at the Baudelaire mansion, using a giant, eye-shaped mirror. The books imply that Olaf had a hand in causing the fire (he is a known arsonist), but this has never been explicitly stated. Olaf's statement in the final book in the series, The End ("Is that what you think?" ..... "you don't know anything.") suggests that he denies starting the fire. Box office The film was a moderate hit at the box office during the 2004 holiday season, eventually earning over $100 million in North America. Reaction The movie garnered a mostly positive reaction from critics, earning a 71% score at the popular critic review site, rottentomatoes.com*. Most negative criticism concerned Jim Carrey's portrayal of Count Olaf, claiming that he made the villain more interesting than the heroes. Another criticism concerned the inclusion of the AFLAC Duck in a scene of the movie (when the Baudelaires were at Lachrymose), which came across as a shameless marketing ploy. However, much praise was put on the child actors, especially Australian actress Emily Browning; Jim Carrey said, "...Emily is just going to break a million hearts". Billy Connolly and Meryl Streep also received praise for their portrayals of Dr. Montgomery Montgomery and Aunt Josephine, respectively. The movie was also critically acclaimed for its artwork, for which it was nominated for an Academy Award. The movie won one for the make-up. Another criticism is the "toning down" of the film. The original film was much darker and more faithful to the source material but was edited to make it more appealing for younger children. Some examples of scenes from the book removed from the film include Olaf threatening to chop off one of Sunny's toes from The Reptile Room and Olaf pushing Aunt Josephine off a boat into the leech-infested lake in The Wide Window. The film won an Academy Award for Makeup and was nominated for the awards for Original Music Score, Costume Design, and Art Direction. However, some fans of the books were disappointed by the portayal of Count Olaf as silly and childish. The timeline of the story was also rearranged, putting the wedding at the end of the film, whereas it is in the very first book. Home video release The DVD (widescreen and fullscreen versions) and VHS video were released on 26 April 2005. There is also a two-disc widescreen DVD Special Edition. The standard DVD package contains a single disc with commentary track by the books' author Daniel Handler, in character as Lemony Snicket, along with director Brad Silberling. Throughout the commentary, Lemony Snicket criticizes the film, ostensibly for being too dismal and depressing. He claims that he was kidnapped, chained up in a small room and forced to watch the film. He points out discrepancies between the books and the film and accuses Silberling of not having read the books. During the scene in which the Lachrymose Leeches appear, Handler also sings and plays a song on the accordion ("Leeches...Leeches...should not be in a film..."). Circuit City included a second disc with further behind-the-scenes footage and original trailers within "specially marked packages," but this "Circuit City Bonus Disc" only contains a fraction of the further bonus material that is found within the widescreen Special Edition package. The Lemony Snicket DVD sold by Target also comes with The Blank Book, a small diary. The DVD edition sold at Wal-Mart included a copy of The Bad Beginning. Sequel There are constant rumors of a sequel, but none have been officially announced. Emily Browning is contracted to appear in a possible sequel, should the project come to fruition. However, it is unclear whether Jim Carrey would return for such a project; he usually refuses to appear in sequels. A petition for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Sequel has been signed over here and will be sent to Paramount Pictures and other makers of the first film once enough signatures have been collected. Trivia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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