Diary of a Sociopath

Author(s): Sergio
Location: Spain

“Diary of a Sociopath"

Written and Directed by Alexander Payne
David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub, Producers
Music by Rolfe Kent

Principal Cast:

Paul Giamatti (Henry Gray)
Jon Heder (Gus)
Evan Rachel Wood (Morgana)
Tony Collette (Deborah)
Harry Dean Stanton (Deborah’s Husband)
Frances Conroy (Ms. Rose)
Maura Tierney (Mary Jane)
Stanley Tucci (Lawyer)

Tagline: “My name is Henry and I am a sociopath.”

Synopsis: Henry Gray hates everybody in a pathological way. He lives in NY and the only physical person he talks with is his owner Ms Rose. He hates his job as a civil servant and, of course, he hates his colleagues too. He considers this world sucks and he can’t find sense in anything. His only illusion in life is a blog he’s created, in which he writes about how he feels day after day, expressing all his frustration. His dedication to the blog turns an obsession and he cannot wait to be at home, so he dedicates the working hours in the office to write on it and to read the comments. His boss finds out by a spiteful worker and Henry is moved to a department with no internet access.

Henry has to drive to Jacksonville because his sister Deborah is going to get married for the third time and he will be the godfather. Deborah works in an elders’ residence, she is pregnant of twins and asks him for a big favour. Her son Gus is studying his first year in Columbia University and she asks him for bringing Gus with him to the wedding. Henry had avoided seeing his nephew in all this year and he doesn’t like the idea at all, but he has no chance. So he buys a portable computer with Wifi and he picks up his almost unknown nephew.

During the trip, Henry shows himself as a silent and antisocial person meanwhile Gus doesn’t stop talking about everything and that make sick to his uncle. Gus has been a freak all his life but, since he is in the University, he wants to experiment all he can because his hormones are over-excited. To pass the night Henry looks for a motel with internet connection but he doesn’t find any. Henry forces his nephew to have the portable computer switched on to find a wifi zone. Gus thinks his uncle is a pervert. Finally they stay in a motel with no internet and with just one bed for both. Henry decides to sleep in the car after the sounds recital and sample of piercings and tattoos of his nephew.

Henry passes the following day with a great anxiety and neck pain. Gus convinces his uncle to drive and, when Henry gets slept, Gus crashes the car against a van. The van is led by Morgana, a learner driver, and after a great discussion with Henry she takes them to a mechanical workshop. Unexpectedly they have to stay in the village until they arrange the car, so they have to stay in a motel. The wedding is the following day and Deborah warns his brother that they have to be there in time or she will kill them. Gus gets a date with Morgana and hours later Henry receives a call from Gus asking for help. They were having sex in Morgana's car and they get hooked by their genital piercings. Henry can’t believe his own eyes and takes them to the hospital. While the operation, Henry sees the opportunity to get into an administration office where there is a computer with internet. A nurse sees him and calls security. Henry passes the night in prison. In the morning Morgana pays the bail, in gratefulness for his help. The car is not arranged yet and they have to get to the wedding before midday. Gus confesses to his uncle that he and Morgana have married in the hospital’s chapel because they have understood the incident as a sign. Morgana offers her car and the three come rightly in time for the wedding.

During the wedding Henry meets with his first secret love, Mary Jane. He thinks he has the strength to finally say something to her, but now she is married and Henry feels frustrated. Henry hears a conversation in which Mary Jane talks with some friends about a ridiculous blog called "Diary of a Sociopath" she found once by chance. They all laugh about some of the stories she tells. Henry finds a silent support in his sister Deborah, the only one able to understand him. Suddenly Henry receives a call from a lawyer in NY. Ms Rose is dead and she has left all her fortune to him, her money, her building. Henry gets shocked and gets it as a big irony, and like the perfect way to end an unsubstantial cycle in his life.

Henry is in Ms Rose’s burial. She had been like a mother for him and he feels a great unexpected emptiness inside. Gus and Morgana are beside him, they seem happy together. Henry realizes he has to begin his real life for once.

What the press would say:

Henry Gray is one of these persons that we would cross in our life and whom we would do the most minimal case. He is a person who passes unnoticed in life and from whom we would move away because of his antipathy. Alexander Payne wrote this script with Paul Giamatti in mind. Payne was not conceiving the film without him. Paul Giamatti plays this role in a magisterial way, providing it of a great realism because initially we hate him and then we go understanding his acts and getting closer. Henry Gray becomes real by Giamatti's wonderful work. But the history doesn’t make sense without the contraposition of his extrovert and crazy nephew Jon Heder and this awkward and absent-minded young woman, with hippy parents, that believes in the signs Evan Rachel Wood. They both play their roles in a passionate and touching way. Tony Collette is perfect, like always, and plays a funny and full of shades character, who is employed at an elders' residence and who always falls in love with very old men.

This is a very entertaining movie and, in occasions, reflexive as well. Flood, satirical, with black humour, irony and sarcasm. With big doses of social critique and without false morality. An atypical movie, praised by the public and the critics. A story, simple in appearance, which turns out to be a thesis about how we relate to the others. You will leave the theatre completely overloaded, full of energy, wanting to live and to fill your life with lots of experiences, no matter how they will be.

FYC:

Best Picture
Best Director: Alexander Payne
Best Original Screenplay: Alexander Payne
Best Leading Actor: Paul Giamatti
Best Supporting Actor: Jon Heder
Best Supporting Actress: Evan Rachel Wood
Best Supporting Actress: Tony Collette