The Notebook (film)

For the 2006 Indian film, see Notebook (film).

The Notebook
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Nick Cassavetes
Produced by	Toby Emmerich Mark Johnson
Written by	Jeremy Leven Jan Sardi
Based on	The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
Narrated by	James Garner
Starring	Ryan Gosling Rachel McAdams James Garner Gena Rowlands Sam Shepard James Marsden Joan Allen
Music by	Aaron Zigman
Cinematography	Robert Fraisse
Editing by	Alan Heim
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	May 20, 2004 (2004-05-20) (Seattle International Film Festival) June 25, 2004 (2004-06-25) (Worldwide)
Running time	123 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$29 million
Box office	$115,603,229

The Notebook is a 2004 romantic drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes, based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. The film stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as a young couple who fall in love during the early 1940s. Their story is narrated from the present day by an elderly man played by James Garner, telling the tale to a fellow nursing home resident, played by Gena Rowlands.

Plot

At a modern-day nursing home, an elderly man named Duke (James Garner) begins to read a love story from his notebook to a female fellow patient (Gena Rowlands).

The story begins in 1940. At a carnival in Seabrook Island, South Carolina, local country boy Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) sees seventeen-year-old heiress Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) for the first time and is immediately smitten. She coyishly resists his advances until their well-meaning friends lure them together; he courts her, and they find each other on a midnight walk through empty Seabrook, where she tells him she loves to paint.

Noah and Allie share an idyllic summer love affair together. One moonlit night, a week before Allie is to leave town, when their passions and desire to be alone together are the strongest, Noah takes her to an abandoned house called Windsor Plantation. Noah tells her that he intends to buy the house, and Allie makes him promise that the house will be white, with blue shutters, a walk-around porch, and a room that overlooks the creek so she can paint. She places an empty picture frame above the mantle. She plays Chopin on the house's old, out of tune piano. She asks him to make love to her.

Their haltingly sweet attempt to make first love is loudly interrupted by Noah's friend Fin (Kevin Connolly) with the news that Allie's parents have "gone crazy" and have the police out looking for her. When Allie and Noah return to her parents' mansion, her disapproving parents ban her from seeing Noah, whom they called "trash, trash, trash," ever again. Allie fights with them, then with Noah in the courtyard and the two break up. Allie immediately regrets the decision but Noah drives away.

The next morning, Allie's mother announces that they are returning home to Charleston immediately, that day. Allie frantically tries to find Noah, but is forced to leave with her family. The Hamiltons send Allie to New York, where she begins attending Sarah Lawrence College. Noah, devastated by his separation from Allie, writes her one letter a day for a year without reply, as Allie's mother intercepts and hides the letters from her. Noah and Allie have no choice but to move on with their lives. Allie continues to attend school, while Noah and Fin enlist to fight in World War II. Fin is killed in battle.

Allie becomes a volunteer in a hospital for wounded soldiers. There, she meets an officer named Lon Hammond, Jr. (James Marsden), a young lawyer who is handsome, sophisticated, charming and comes from old Southern money. The two eventually become engaged, to the delight of Allie's parents, although Allie sees Noah's face when Lon asks her to marry him. When Noah returns home from the war, he discovers his father has sold their home so that Noah can buy the Windsor Plantation, fulfilling his lifelong dream and keeping his promise to the departed Allie, who by now he hasn't seen for several years. While visiting Charleston to file some paperwork, Noah witnesses Allie and Lon kissing at a restaurant, causing Noah to go a little crazy, convincing himself that if he fixes up the house, Allie will come back to him.

While trying on her wedding dress, Allie is startled to read, in a newspaper and quite by accident, that Noah has completed "their" house. She faints. The picture of Noah and the house haunt and trouble her, and she acts. Telling Lon she "needs to take a break," to "take care of a few things" and "clear my head," and against her better judgment, she visits Noah in Seabrook and he, when the shock of seeing her once more subsides, invites her inside, then to join him at dinner. They eat their dinner in the very room of their first lovemaking, near the piano on which she played Chopin.

In the present, it is made clear that the elderly woman is Allie suffering from Alzheimer's disease, which has stolen her memories. "Duke," the man who reads to her, is in fact her husband and first love Noah, repeating the story of their romance. Allie recognizes neither him nor their grown children and grandchildren, who beg Noah to come home with them. He insists on staying with his sweetheart Allie.

The film returns to the forties.

Allie returns to Noah and the two take a boat ride and are caught in a thunderstorm. Allie asked Noah about why he did not write her, and Noah reveals that he did. The two then make love.

The next day, Allie's mother appears on Noah's doorstep, telling Allie that the jealous Lon has followed her to Seabrook. After a confrontation turned heart-to-heart, Allie's mother returns the bundle of Noah's 365 hidden letters. When alone, Noah confronts Allie about what she is going to do; Allie confesses that she doesn't know. and once again, they fight. Noah asks her to ignore what he, or Lon, or her parents want and asks, again and again, "What do YOU want?" Confused, unable to answer his question, Allie returns to the hotel. On the way she stops and reads the last of his letters, She confesses to Lon, who is angry but admits that he still loves her. He tells her that he does not want to convince his fiancée that she should be with him, but Allie tells him he does not have to, because she already knows she should be with him but, tellingly, not that she WILL be with him.

The film picks up the now lifelong lovers, as "Duke" asks Allie who she chose. She realizes the answer herself, that the "story" he was reading was their story; young Allie appears at Noah's doorstep, having left Lon at the hotel and chosen Noah. They embrace in reunion.

Elderly Allie suddenly remembers her past before she and Noah/Duke joyfully spend a brief intimate moment together; after originally finding out about her illness, she herself had written their story in the notebook with the instructions for Noah to, "read this to me, and I'll come back to you." But soon Allie relapses, losing her memories of Noah yet again. She panics, and has to be sedated by the physician. This proves to be too difficult for Noah and he breaks down. The next morning, Noah is found unconscious in bed and is rushed to the hospital; he later returns to the nursing home's intensive care ward. He goes to Allie's room later that night, and Allie remembers again.

When Allie questions Noah about when she won't be able to remember anything anymore, he reassures her that he will never leave her. She then asks him if he thinks their love for each other is strong enough to 'take them away together.' He states that he thinks their love could do anything. After telling each other that they love one another, they both go to sleep in Allie's bed. The next morning, a nurse finds them in bed together, having both died in each others' arms.

Cast

• Ryan Gosling as Noah Calhoun
• Rachel McAdams as Allie Hamilton
• James Garner as Older Noah Calhoun
• Gena Rowlands as Older Allie Calhoun
• Joan Allen as Anne Hamilton
• James Marsden as Lon Hammond
• Sam Shepard as Frank Calhoun
• David Thornton as John Hamilton
• Kevin Connolly as Fin
• Heather Wahlquist as Sara Tuffington
• Starletta DuPois as Nurse Esther

Filming - Locations

The Notebook was filmed almost entirely on location in South Carolina, in late 2003 and early 2004. Production offices for the film were set up at the abandoned Charleston Naval Base in North Charleston.

Much of the setting of the movie’s plot takes place in and around the town of Seabrook, SC, an actual town which is one of the South Carolina "sea islands". It is located 20 miles inland, halfway between Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA. However, none of the movie was filmed in the Seabrook area. The house that Noah is seen fixing up is a private residence at Wadmalaw Island, SC, which is another "sea island" locality situated 20 miles closer to Charleston. The house was not actually in a dilapidated state at any time, but it was made to look that way by special effects in the first half of the film. Contrary to the suggestion in the film's dialogue, neither the house nor the Seabrook area was home to South Carolina Revolutionary hero Francis Marion, whose plantation was actually located some distance northwest of Charleston.

Many of the scenes set in Seabrook were filmed in the town of Mt. Pleasant, (a suburb of Charleston). Others were filmed in Charleston and in Edisto Island. The lake scenes were filmed at Cypress Gardens (in Moncks Corner, SC) with trained birds that were brought in from elsewhere.

Another major portion of the movie was set at an unnamed nursing home, presumably located somewhere in the Carolinas. The nursing home scenes were actually filmed at Rice Hope Plantation, located in Georgetown County, SC. The college depicted briefly in the movie is identified in the film as Sarah Lawrence College, but the campus that is seen is actually the College of Charleston.

Release

Critical response

The Notebook received a mixed reaction from critics. The review aggregate at Rotten Tomatoes reported that 52% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 149 reviews. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 53 out of 100, based on 34 reviews. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, awarding it with three-and-a-half stars out of four; calling the photography "striking in its rich, saturated effects" and stating that the "actors are blessed by good material."

Box office

The film opened June 25, 2004 in Canada and the United States and grossed $13.5 million in 2,303 theaters its opening weekend, ranking #4 at the box office. The film grossed a total of $115.6 million worldwide, $81 million in Canada and the United States and $34.6 million in other countries.

External links

• Official website
• The Notebook at the Internet Movie Database
• The Notebook at AllRovi