Stephen King wrote the collection of novellas “Four Past Midnight” in 1990, part of which is “Secret Window, Secret Garden”. The film explores the question about plagiarism and the subconscious process of creating a narrative. The story revolves around the writer-novelist Morton Rainey (Johnny Depp), who is in the middle of a divorce. The history of the protagonist is revealed within the first couple of minutes. The film establishes with a close up shot of Rainey, sitting in his car. This type of the shot allows the viewer to recognize the face expression of the character. The camera stays static for the first seconds, paying attention to the emotions. “Turn around. Turn the car around and get the hell out of here. Right now.” This monologue is the first sign of the mental dilemma that the character will eventually experience. Throughout the whole introduction, the dialogue is missing. The emotion of the scene when Mort Rainey caught his wife cheating on him is expressed entirely through the emotions of the characters. When the scene cuts out to present days, the whole environment is completely different. There are various details that are essential to the plot. After the establishing shot of the house, the camera moves to the “secret window” from which we can see the working space of the writer. There are two sentences typed on the laptop: “Four days after George had confirmed to his own satisfaction that his wife was cheating on him, he confronted her. ‘I have to talk to you, Abby,’ he said.” Later in the film he deletes these sentences, saying that this is a bad writing. As we understand at the end, talking is not the way that Rainey copes with his wife. Other important detail that reveals the character’s personality is the first shot of Mort Rainey in his house. His figure is seen through the reflection of a mirror. This is the same mirror that he eventually sees his other personality in. Here, the mirror acts as a metaphor for his split personality. “You stole my story.” That is the first line of the first dialogue in the film as well as in the Stephen King’s novella. This method of storytelling is preserved in the both versions of the story. The viewer/reader is introduced in the plot from the very beginning. What story? Who is that man? How the narrative will be developed? This is a classic technique in which the most exciting questions from the plot are dropped directly in the beginning, assuring that the audience will be engaged. These slight details turn out to be fundamental for the overall look of the story. Ignoring these storytelling methods in the process of adapting a screenplay, often leads to washing out the narrative. That is the case with the most recent remake of King’s novel – “Pet Cemetery”. The writer openly protested about the changes in the story details that have been made.
Secret Window 