The movie begins with the dialogue, “Mom and me versus you and dad”. The statement levels the field, on which the movie continues to play with the psyche of its viewers for a full hour and fifteen minutes. The storyline had been no less than a tennis doubles between Joan and Bernard, where Walt and Frank got stuck like two amateurs in the game between pros. This game spirit is well maintained throughout by the couple in their competition for career, kids, asserts (favourite books), and even the cat!
The movie well portrays the conflict between the couple while maintaining the different shades of grey in their character. Bernard was shown as an egoist, with narcissism and no sense of responsibility for his actions, but he was also shown having a vulnerable side of him. He lacked the capacity to contain emotions this
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With its unmistakably inescapable dark humour, it can leave its viewers disturbed, shaken, boggled, dumb-stuck or simply lost in thought. The director, Noah Baumback did a commendable job in giving importance to even the tiny details of the film, including the background props. Example – a picture with a baby gaping in it is shown in the scene, where Frank tries on a condom, clearly holds much deeper meaning than the obvious one. Even the songs being played in the backgrounds fit perfectly into the scene. The line ‘united we stand, divided we fall’ from the song “hey you” was repeated few time in the movie, holds true to the underlying bond in the family.
Lastly but not the least, the title being aptly chosen depicts a multi-layered powerful message. Its meaning can be about two clashing forces, or about an imminent fight, or a war between vulnerability and cynical detachment or the significance that it holds for a little boy who is mortified to see his parents’ dispute or simply the aura of grandiosity attached to squid and the whale diorama in Museum of Natural