Stay (2005)
Film Statistics
Director: Marc Forster
Writer: David Benioff
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Release Date: October 21, 2005
MPAA Rating: R
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Status: On DVD
Cast:
- Naomi Watts
- Ewan McGregor
- Ryan Gosling
- Bob Hoskins
- Janeane Garofalo
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Synopsis
In the space between desire and fear, between reality and illusion, between life
'and death lies a whole other alternate world that is brought to life in the mind-bending
thriller Stay. From the acclaimed director of the award-winning Monster’s Ball and Finding
Neverland, Marc Forster, comes this moving and mesmerizing double story that plunges beneath
the surface of ordinary experience to take a man on a spiraling descent through the mysteries
of identity, dreams and the very fabric of existence.
Stay appears at face value to be the suspenseful story of dedicated New York psychiatrist Sam
Foster and his urgent attempt to stop a secretive and unusual young patient he inherited, Henry
Letham, from carrying out a planned suicide on the eve of his 21st birthday. But behind the primary
tale of Stay lies a far more unsettling and surreal mystery: that of the reality-shattering effect
that investigating Henry starts to have on Sam. As Sam is drawn deeper into the web of Henry’s
life -- and then into the labyrinth of his subconscious -- at first it simply puts stress on Sam’s
relationship with his artist girlfriend and former patient Lila. But soon Sam’s own tightly-held
grip on the rational world begins to melt away. Faced with increasingly surreal encounters and a
Manhattan transformed into a wildly shifting dreamscape, Sam can no longer figure out what is true
and what is happening only in his head, nor where he begins and Henry ends.
So just who is Henry Letham and why is he fracturing Sam’s reality so profoundly?
As clues and suspense simultaneously build to the story’s climax on the Brooklyn Bridge, both Sam
-- and the audience -- must grapple with thought-provoking questions about perception, awareness,
forgiveness and final moments of redemption. For it soon becomes clear that what is happening to
Sam and Henry is taking place not in this world but in the twilight state between living and dying
... a place where no one can stay for long.
Other Titles
- n/a
Trivia
- Letham is an anagram of the word "Hamlet" which is referred to numerous times throughout the film.
- In an interview with MTV.com, director Marc Forster revealed the reason why Sam's trousers are too
short for his legs. It is because Henry's view of Sam is when he is crouching down, and his trousers
pull up when he does this.
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