History Film / Stoker

A 2013 film from acclaimed director Creator/ParkChanWook, and his first English-language production, with a script by Creator/WentworthMiller of ''Series/PrisonBreak'' fame.

After 18-year-old India Stoker (Creator/MiaWasikowska) loses her beloved father Richard in a car crash, a mysterious man shows up at the funeral – her uncle, Charlie (Creator/MatthewGoode). While India is apprehensive of a family member she's never even heard of until now, and suspicious about his motives, her unstable mother Evelyn (Creator/NicoleKidman) welcomes Charlie into their home. Witty and attractive, Charlie fills the hole Richard left behind – in more ways than one. Evelyn's infatuation with him grows, but India's manipulative, charming uncle seems to be more interested in India herself...

After 18-year-old India Stoker (Creator/MiaWasikowska) loses her beloved father Richard in a car crash, a mysterious man shows up at the funeral - her uncle, Charlie (Creator/MatthewGoode). While India is apprehensive of a family member she's never even heard of until now, and suspicious about his motives, her unstable mother Evelyn (Creator/NicoleKidman) welcomes Charlie into their home. Witty and attractive, Charlie fills the hole Richard left behind - in more ways than one. Evelyn's infatuation with him grows, but India's manipulative, charming uncle seems to be more interested in India herself...

Despite having a title that's rather similar to the surname of [[Creator/BramStoker that guy]] who wrote ''{{Literature/Dracula}}'', the film is ''not,'' in fact, about vampires.[[note]] Park already did that in ''Film/Thirst2009''.[[/note]] (Although WordOfGod admits that the book was a big influence, as was Alfred Hitchcock's ''Film/ShadowOfADoubt''.)

A 2013 film from acclaimed director Creator/ParkChanWook, and his first English language production, with a script by Creator/WentworthMiller of ''Series/PrisonBreak'' fame.

Despite having a title that's rather similar to the surname of [[Creator/BramStoker that guy]] who wrote {{Literature/Dracula}}, the film is ''not,'' in fact, about vampires.[[note]] Park already did that in ''Film/Thirst2009''.[[/note]] (Although WordOfGod admits that the book was a big influence, as was Alfred Hitchcock's ''Film/ShadowOfADoubt''.)

* HatesBeingTouched: India and Charlie.

* OedipusComplex: Implied. India was extremely close to her father, but has a... difficult relationship with her mom, to say the least. She later becomes infatuated with her uncle, her father's brother... whom she notes looks a lot like Daddy Dearest.

* PsychopathicManchild: Matthew Goode views Charlie as being a child in the body of an adult, never truly growing up.

** By proxy with Whip, who attempts to mug (or rather, [[MoralEventHorizon rape]]) the niece of a monster, only to get strangled by said monster and then killed by his intended victim.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: India masturbates in the shower [[spoiler: to the memory of one of Charlie's murders.]]

** India isn't [[spoiler: crying]] in the shower after [[spoiler: seeing Charlie strangle Whip Taylor]], she's[[spoiler: [[ADateWithRosiePalms getting off]] on the recollection]].

* LoveTriangle: [[spoiler:Eventually, India/Charlie/Evelyn. It's a [[TriangRelations Type 4]]; Evelyn is attracted to Charlie, but Charlie only wants India, and eventually, she becomes attracted to him, as well.]]

* ElectraComplex: Implied. India was extremely close to her father, but has a... difficult relationship with her mom, to say the least. She later becomes infatuated with her uncle, her father's brother... whom she notes looks a lot like Daddy Dearest.

* CreepyBlueEyes: All three Stokers have rather piercing, disconcerting eyes. (Amusingly, all three actors had to wear contacts to get that effect.)

* FootFocus: India receives [[NiceShoes a pair of saddle shoes]] for her birthday every year, with each pair being identical in every way to the previous year's pair apart from being of a larger size to fit her still-growing feet, [[RuleOfSymbolism symbolizing her growing maturity and loss of innocence]]. Upon turning eighteen, she is gifted [[spoiler:a pair of high heels]], and her [[spoiler:putting them on her bare feet fresh out of saddle shoes]] is shown with numerous lingering close-ups.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Birds as hunter and hunted, eggs, nests, blood and feet. There are numerous lingering closeups of Mia Wasikowska's bare feet, symbolising her innocence and [[NiceShoes India's identical pairs of saddle shoes (and symbolic donning of high heels)]] are symbolic of her growing maturity and loss of innocence.

* AdultFear: The film runs on some standard middle-tier adult and coming-of-age fears: losing a spouse or a parent in a car accident and finding out that they were keeping things from you, realizing you're getting older and being afraid no man will ever love you again, realizing you're getting older and you're not a kid any more, worrying your child might prefer their other parent to you and that it's too late to win their love again, seeing a parent descend into depression and alcoholism, anxieties about what family means and what it means to have a house to come home to. But what takes the cake is something completely horrifying. [[spoiler:The plot hinges on the death of a four-year-old boy by being ''buried alive'' while playing, by an only slightly older sibling. Jonathan's toys and the decorations for the sandcastle he was making are strewn around him, and the perpetrator lies there numbly, unbothered. The kid responsible is taken away to be institutionalized, noncomprehending, but becoming frightened and resistant when he's pulled out of the back seat of the car. This is juxtaposed with the same child, now an adult man, sitting in the front seat of a car terrified and furious that he's going to be abandoned again while his big brother is faced with the impossible choice of forgiving his clearly disturbed little brother for what he did (on purpose? by accident?) and for the way it tore the family apart, or keeping him ''far, far away'' from his own wife and child.]]

** "You know, I've often wondered why it is we have children? And the conclusion I've come to is, we want someone to get it ''right'' this time. But not me. Personally speaking, I can't wait to watch life ''tear you apart.''" Evelyn, ladies and gents. Although, in Evelyn's defense, this statement was made after [[spoiler: she caught India in what was probably an AlmostKiss with her [[IncestIsRelative uncle]] Charlie, whom Evelyn herself had been having an affair with]].

* IncestIsRelative: India is intrigued by, and eventually obsessed with, her uncle (who is in love with her himself.) Admittedly an uncle she only found out about when he turned up at her dad's funeral, but still.

* FootFocus: India receives [[NiceShoes a pair of saddle shoes]] for her birthday every year, with each pair being identical in every way to the previous year's pair apart from being of a larger size to fit her still-growing feet, [[RuleOfSymbolism symbolizing her growing maturity and loss of innocence]]. Upon turning eighteen, she is gifted [[spoiler:a pair of high heels]], and her [[putting them on her bare feet fresh out of saddle shoes]] is shown with numerous lingering close-ups.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler:Mrs. [=McGarrick=]]]. Or the deep freeze, as the case may be.

Despite having a title that's rather similar to the surname of [[Creator/BramStoker that guy]] who wrote {{Literature/Dracula}}, the film is ''not,'' in fact, about vampires.[[note]] Park already did that in ''{{Film/Thirst}}''.[[/note]] (Although WordOfGod admits that the book was a big influence, as was Alfred Hitchcock's ''Film/ShadowOfADoubt''.)

* SouthernGothic: The setting is a low-key, manicured yet undeniably decrepit Southern American atmosphere.
** While filmed in Tennessee and having a SouthernGothic atmosphere, as seen by the address on the letters Charlie sent India, it's set in Connecticut, in the Northeast US. Another character also mentions Richard driving "two states away" (to the institution Charlie was in in Pennsylvania, as again seen by the letters.)

* ConvenientSlowDance: ''Summer Wine'' is not a typical slow dance choice, but they seem plenty into each other regardless.

* Between his emotionally unstable, alcoholic wife, psychopathic brother and budding sociopath daughter, the late Richard Stoker seems to be the only sane member of his immediate family.

-> ''We don't need to be friends. We're family.''

* HatesBeingTouched: India and Charlie in a case of NotSoDifferent.

* AmbiguousDisorder: India [[spoiler: and Charlie]], characterized by [[TheQuietOne long periods of silence]], [[SenseFreak inordinate attention to small details]] (coupled with a disregard for the big picture), disdain for social interaction, habitual lack of eye contact, a [[HatesBeingTouched dislike of physical contact]], and abnormally intense interests, all of which seem to suggest she's autistic.
** Charlie likewise shows traits of [[TheSociopath Antisocial personality disorder]], being completely lacking in empathy and remorse, intelligent, superficially charming and manipulative, but also [[HollywoodPersonalityDisorders borderline personality disorder]], forming severe attachments to people, acting out for attention, loving and hating his brother at the same time and engaging in frantic attempts to avoid real or imagined abandonment. The fact that he only seems to form emotional bonds with very few people is also indicative of [[TheRecluse Schizoid personality disorder]].

* AdultFear: The film runs on some standard middle-tier adult and coming-of-age fears: losing a spouse or a parent in a car accident and finding out that they were keeping things from you, realizing you're getting older and being afraid no man will ever love you again, realizing you're getting older and you're not a kid any more, worrying your child might prefer their other parent to you and that it's too late to win their love again, seeing a parent descend into depression and alcoholism, anxieties about what family means and what it means to have a house to come home to. But what takes the cake is something completely horrifying. [[spoiler:The plot hinges on the death of a four-year-old boy by being ''buried alive'' while playing, by an only slightly older sibling. Jonathan's toys and the decorations for the sandcastle he was making are strewn around him, and the perpetrator lies there numbly, unbothered. The kid responsible is taken away to be institutionalized, noncomprehending, but becoming frightened and resistant when he's pulled out of the back seat of the car. This is juxtaposed with the same child, now an adult man, sitting in the front seat of a car terrified and furious that he's going to be abandoned again while his big brother is faced with the impossible choice of forgiving his clearly disturbed little brother for what he did (on purpose? on accident?) and for the way it tore the family apart, or keeping him ''far, far away'' from his own wife and child.]]

* TheDogBitesBack: After enduring sexual harassment and bullying from her male peers for what is implied to be her entire education, India finally stabs her main tormentor with a pencil when he refuses to leave her alone. He wisely decides it's not worth it after that.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Birds as hunter and hunted, eggs, nests, blood and feet. There are numerous lingering closeups of Mia Wasikowska's bare feet and [[NiceShoes India's identical pairs of saddle shoes (and symbolic donning of high heels)]] are symbolic of her growing maturity.

* LadyDrunk: Evelyn spends a fair amount of time in this state.

* SenseFreak: The way India describes her extraordinary perceptions has strong overtones of this, one of the many elements that ''are'' reminiscent of [[OurVampiresAreDifferent supernatural creatures]], but it seems to cause her as much distress as private pleasure.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Birds as hunter and hunted, eggs, nests, blood, and [[NiceShoes India's identical pairs of saddle shoes (and symbolic donning of high heels)]].

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Charlie ''does'' love India. [[CreepyUncle Maybe a bit too much.]]