History Main / ShutterIsland

[[redirect:Literature/ShutterIsland]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shutter-island-poster_1777.jpg]]

->''We gotta get off this rock, Chuck.''

''Shutter Island'' is a 2003 novel by DennisLehane, author of ''Literature/MysticRiver'' and ''Literature/TheGivenDay'' and a writer on ''TheWire''.

In 1954, US Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner Chuck Aule are assigned to investigate the disappearance of multiple murderess Rachel Solando, who is a patient at Shutter Island's Ashecliffe Hospital, a mental hospital for the most violent of the criminally insane. It is revealed that Andrew Laeddis, the man responsible for Daniels' wife's death, is incarcerated there as well.

As the marshals investigate further, they begin to uncover hints that Ashecliffe Hospital may be home to a living nightmare of Nazi-esque experimentation on unwilling patients.

But of course, all is not as it seems...

The novel was adapted into a movie by MartinScorsese in 2010, with LeonardoDiCaprio as Teddy Daniels and Mark Ruffalo as Chuck Aule.

Perhaps one of the most heavily [[RuleOfSymbolism symbolic]] novels/films in years, to the extent that [[MindScrew it will screw with your mind HARD]].

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!!Provides Examples Of:

* ArcWords: "Why you all wet, Baby?"
* AllGermansAreNazis: Teddy automatically assumes that the German doctor working in the asylum is some kind of [[MadScientist Josef Mengele]], continuing his experiments on American soil. Teddy's paranoia about Germans turns out to have a comprehensible source -- he was present at the liberation of a concentration camp. After the Allied soldiers saw what had been done to the prisoners, they put all the guards up against a wall and summarily executed them.
* AStormIsComing: Said by the captain of the boat at the beginning of the film.
* BedlamHouse: A very good example of [[spoiler: a subversion, as the horrific experiments are all part of the protagonist's delusions. The story plays with the audience, as it is because of familiarity with the trope that one so readily accepts Daniels' version of reality as truth.]]
* CrusadingWidower
* TheFifties: A very grim portrayal of the time period, bordering on CrapsackWorld. ColdWar, [[RedScare McCarthyism]], fresh memories of [[NaziGermany Nazi atrocities]], rampant crime and general paranoia form the zeitgeist.
* FramingDevice: The novel is presented as Dr. Sheehan's desire to set the record straight at last.
* GoAmongMadPeople
* ItsPersonal: Teddy takes on the case specifically because of its link to his wife.
* LighthousePoint: The lighthouse at the end of the island, that the staff says contains the septic system, but others say contains a lobotomy lab. [[spoiler: It's actually an office.]]
* LockedRoomMystery: How did Rachel Solando escape? "It's as if she evaporated straight through the walls."
* MeaningfulName: Toward the end of the book, Dr. Cawley remarks on the irony of how Teddy [[spoiler: even in his intent to hide the truth from himself, gave his [[strike: partner]] primary psychiatrist the name "Chuck Aule".]] Say it five times fast.
* [[spoiler: MummiesAtTheDinnerTable: Dolores suggests doing this with their drowned children's bodies, just before Andrew shoots her for killing them.]]
* OnlySaneMan: [[spoiler:Cruelly subverted.]] Teddy believes he is one. [[spoiler:He is wrong.]]
* ThePreciousPreciousCar: Teddy blows up Dr. Crawley's beloved car in order to create a diversion.
* {{Room 101}}: Teddy assumes the lighthouse is one.
* ShellShockedVeteran: Teddy's got nightmares and perhaps a drinking problem because of his WWII experience.
* TheShrink: In Teddy's eyes, the psychiatrists are the evil version of this trope. [[spoiler: In reality, they are only trying to help him overcome his madness.]]
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: [[spoiler:Teddy Daniels]].
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: Teddy Daniels is Andrew Laeddis]].
* TomatoSurprise: The missing Dr. Sheehan turns out to be [[spoiler: Teddy's new partner, Chuck Aule]].
* TwistEnding: One that would make Creator/MNightShyamalan proud.
* UnreliableNarrator: [[spoiler:Teddy Daniels]].
* USMarshal
* WasItAllALie: And a decidedly cruel, sad version of it, because for once [[spoiler:"TheMole" was actually doing it for the protagonist's own good]].
--> '''[[spoiler:Chuck/Lester]]''': I'm genuinely sorry about that ... I never wanted to leave you feeling betrayed ... You have to believe me. \\
... \\
'''[[spoiler:Teddy/Andrew]]''': You were my friend. I trusted you ... You were my friend, [[spoiler:Chuck]]. Oh, I'm sorry, [[spoiler:Lester]]. \\

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!!The movie contains examples of


* AntiVillain / [[spoiler:HeroAntagonist]]: Dr. Cawley. [[spoiler:He seems really sad and regretful when he has to admit his own defeat.]]
* BigNo: [=DiCaprio=]'s character gets a pretty good one.
* BlastOut
* CatapultNightmare: A few.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: see GoryDiscretionShot.]]
* DrivenToMadness: [[spoiler:Subverted. They're actually trying to ''cure'' his madness. Played straight in that what happened to his wife and children really did make him crack before the start of the story]].
* EpiphanyTherapy: Cruelly Subverted. [[spoiler:As of the end of the film, Dr. Cawley has gotten Teddy/Andrew to snap out of his madness twice. Neither time stuck. The movie ending somewhat suggests that Andrew is really cured, but is so guilt ridden at what he had done that he pretends to have regressed back to the Teddy Daniels fantasy so they will lobotomize him, and his last line in particular implies that he knows.]]
* EyeScream: 'If I sink my teeth into your eye right now do you think you can stop me before I blind you?'
** Don't forget the description of a lobotomy, which [[spoiler: is very strongly implied to be [[strike: Teddy's]] [[strike: Andrew's]] the lead character's fate.]]
*** Note that a real lobotomy doesn't actually damage the eye''ball'', as this is gently pushed sideways to clear a path to the orbital fissures at the rear of the eye-socket. Still extremely creepy, even discounting the brain damage.
*** That said, sticking an ice pick ''through'' the orbital fissures to reach the frontal/temporal lobe isn't going to be a good thing for the optic nerve. And then if they botch it (which they will do... It's brain surgery with an ice pick and guess work) you get damage to those areas, and god forbid they dig too far down and hit the corpus callosum. Say bye bye to communicating hemispheres.
**** Actually, lack of a corpus callosum isn't nearly as damaging as a frontal lobe lobotomy. Cutting the corpus callosum remains a highly used surgery to treat intense epilepsy.
* FakeAmerican: British actress Emily Mortimer as American Rachel Solando
* FilmOfTheBook
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:"You can't just choose to be sane."]]
** Also [[spoiler: how Andrew (then believing himself to be Teddy) utilized matches to see in Ward C, after having told Sheehan (as Chuck) that Laeddis was a fire bug. This is arguable, as obviously he had to use something to see in the nearly-pitch-black ward, but it's heavily inferrable based on how much attention the movie pays to Andrew lighting each match.]]
** In addition, [[spoiler: Teddy told his partner that his wife was killed by smoke from a fire. A constant habit of his is smoking. Another arguable point, as it is the fifties, and smoking was encouraged at the time.]]
*** [[spoiler: Smoke from a fire could have also been referring to the smoke from his gun, as shown when he hallucinates shooting it. Some films from that time period have similar lines]]
%% FridgeLogic and FridgeBrilliance examples go on those pages, not here.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Most assuredly not always present, but still packs a wallop at [[spoiler:the ending, with the "peaceful" shot of the lighthouse. The [[HereWeGoAgain previous scene]] makes clear [[BodyHorror what will happen to Laeddis there]].]]
* HerrDoctor: Played with. Dr. Naehring is undeniably German (although [[FakeNationality played by a legendary Swede]]), but his accent is much lighter than required by the trope.
* HeyItsThatGuy: [[{{Titanic}} Jack Dawson]]/[[{{Film/Inception}} Dom Cobb]] and [[EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind Stan]]/[[Film/TheAvengers Bruce Banner]] are investigating an insane asylum run by [[Film/{{Species}} Xavier Finch]]/[[Film/IronMan3 The Mandarin]], where [[TheSeventhSeal Antonius Block]] works. Oh, and [[{{Film/Watchmen}} Rorschach]] is also an inmate.
** [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Casey Jones]] is a mad arsonist.
*** He used to be a [[Film/TheProphecy former priest turned Los Angeles homicide detective]].
*** And he shot [[Series/{{House}} Dr. House]].
*** And he [[TheCuriousCaseOfBenjaminButton made a clock that runs backwards]].
** [[TheSilenceOfTheLambs Buffalo Bill]]/[[JusticeLeague Sinestro]]/[[{{Monk}} Captain Stottlemeyer sans mustache]] is also the very disturbing Warden.
** Most of the main asylum workers are played by actors well known for their roles in horror movies or movies about killers. It creates a subconsciously uncomfortable feeling for the audience.
* {{Homage}}: The film is absolutely crawling with them, in particular Creator/AlfredHitchcock/Vertigo.
** The crooked angles in the lighthouse are a homage to ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'', a German film told from the perspective of an asylum patient.
** Key parts of the plot and overall theme may be an homage to ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'' as well.
* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: [[spoiler: Nearly the entire film is one, on the part of Kingsley's character. He fails. Or does he?]]
* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: A somewhat meta-example; any sufficiently GenreSavvy viewer should be able to spot the obvious twist a mile away, but the way the film plays out makes one constantly question whether or not that's just what the filmmakers want you to expect.
* InfantImmortality: Averted. Along with the dead children at Dachau, Rachael Solando killed her three children by drowning them [[spoiler:and by extension, so did Dolores]].
* IronicEcho: "Why are you all wet, baby?"
** "I gotta get off this rock, Chuck."
* ManlyTears: Teddy sheds these a lot, [[strike: almost]] to the point of being TheWoobie.
* MrExposition: Dr. Cawley's wordy explanation of [[TheReveal what was really going on]].
* NietzscheWannabe: The Warden.
** Although [[spoiler: considering that by the point in the movie where we first meet the warden was when Andrew was coming off the Chlorazapine and [[UnreliableNarrator obviously hallucinating]], we don't really know if that conversation actually happened or was [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness simply a part of Andrew's delusion]].]]
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: [[spoiler:As we later learn, [[strike:Daniels's]] Laeddis' delusions led him to completely misunderstand what George Noyce was talking about.]]
--> [[spoiler:"It's about you and Laeddis. It's always been about you", implying that "it" was about Daniels vs. Laeddis]]
-->As opposed to:
--> [[spoiler:"It's about you. And, Laeddis, it's always been about you", implying that Daniels IS Laeddis and everything was focused around HIM]]
* SignificantAnagram: [[spoiler: Four of them, hence the "Rule of Four." Edward Daniels/Andrew Laeddis, and Rachel Solando/Dolores Chanal.]]
* TentativeLight in the movie.
* TerrifyingPetStoreRat: A whole swarm of rats on the cliffside, which seem curious but not at all hostile.
* [[spoiler: TheEndingChangesEverything]]
* ThereAreNoTherapists: [[spoiler: Completely, utterly inverted. The whole island is orchestrating a therapy session to play along with the main character's delusions to see if he can resolve his own internal conflicts without help. They are trying to simulate a ThereAreNoTherapists scenario.]]
* TomatoInTheMirror: Carried over from the novel. [[spoiler: Teddy spends the whole movie chasing after Andrew Laeddis, the man who killed his wife. Near the end it's revealed that he ''is'' Laeddis, and invented the Teddy Daniels persona so that he wouldn't have to deal with the guilt of shooting his wife after she drowned their children in a lake. He's been a patient at the hospital for the last two years.]]
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: [[spoiler:Why do we keep spoiling Daniels's insanity, guys?]]
** [[spoiler: To be fair, any movie set in a mental institution is pretty much ''guaranteed'' to screw with its hero's head, so not much of a spoiler for the GenreSavvy.]]
* TwistEnding: A truly nasty one, too.
* VerbalBusinessCard: "My name is '''EDWARD DANIELS''' !"(twice). Later: [[spoiler:- "My name is Andrew Laeddis. And I murdered my wife in the spring of fifty two".]]
* WeaponStomp: Done very nastily. [[spoiler:The nazi reaching for the gun had blown his cheek off in a suicide attempt and was lying on the floor bleeding out. He reached for his dropped gun to try again, only to have the protagonist step on it and drag it away.)]]
* WhamLine: [[spoiler: "You don't have a partner, Daniels. You came alone."]]
** [[spoiler: "Your name is Andrew Laeddis. The sixty-seventh patient at Ashecliffe? He's you, Andrew."]]
** [[spoiler: "Your children, Andrew, your children!"]]
** [[spoiler: "Honey?... Where are the kids?" "They're at school." "...It's Saturday. School's not open on Saturday." '''"My school is."''']]
* WindmillCrusader: [[spoiler: the main character]].

''Shutter Island'' is a 2003 novel by DennisLehane, author of ''MysticRiver'' and ''TheGivenDay'' and a writer on ''TheWire''.