Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free First Class Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
21 used & new from £2.57
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Squid And The Whale [DVD] [2005]
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images

The Squid And The Whale [DVD] [2005]

DVD ~ Jeff Daniels
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.88 & eligible for Free UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £15.11 (76%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Items for dispatch to UK will be sold by Amazon's Preferred Merchant. (Why?) Gift-wrap available.

9 new from £3.28 12 used from £2.57
Learn about Lovefilm
Amazon's choice for DVD rental.
With a 14 day FREE trial. Learn more

Frequently Bought Together

The Squid And The Whale [DVD] [2005] + The Science Of Sleep [DVD] [2006] + Me And You And Everyone We Know [DVD]
Total RRP: £55.97
Price For All Three: £13.84

Show availability and shipping details

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Squid And The Whale [DVD] [2005]
48% buy the item featured on this page:
The Squid And The Whale [DVD] [2005] 4.1 out of 5 stars (19)
£4.88
Eagle Vs. Shark [DVD] [2007]
18% buy
Eagle Vs. Shark [DVD] [2007] 3.8 out of 5 stars (18)
£4.98
The Science Of Sleep [DVD] [2006]
17% buy
The Science Of Sleep [DVD] [2006] 3.6 out of 5 stars (15)
£3.98
Me And You And Everyone We Know [DVD]
9% buy
Me And You And Everyone We Know [DVD] 3.4 out of 5 stars (20)
£4.98
Explore similar items

Product details

  • Actors: Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, William Baldwin
  • Directors: Noah Baumbach
  • Producers: Wes Anderson
  • Format: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL
  • Language English
  • Subtitles: Spanish, Dutch, English, Hindi
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 7 Aug 2006
  • Run Time: 77 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000FS9PB2
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3,662 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Reviews

Amazon.co.uk review

The Squid and the Whale follows the divorce of Joan (Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me) and Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels, The Purple Rose of Cairo) as it wreaks havoc on the emotional lives of their two sons, Walt (Jesse Eisenberg, Roger Dodger) and Frank (Owen Kline, The Anniversary Party). Though there's no plot in the usual sense, the movie progresses with growing emotional force from the separation into the bitter fighting between Joan and Bernard and the hapless, floundering behaviour of Walt and Frank, who act out through plagiarism, sexual acts and drinking.

Some viewers may find the ending too diffuse; others will appreciate that writer/director Noah Baumbach (Mr. Jealousy) doesn't wrap up the messiness of life in a false cinematic package. Either way, viewers will appreciate how the specificity of the personalities makes The Squid and the Whale so compelling, as Baumbach has drawn the characters with such detail, both engaging and off-putting, that they leap off the screen. Naturally, he's greatly helped by the cast: Linney, Eisenberg, Kline and especially Daniels bite into these often unsympathetic portraits and give fearlessly honest performances, interlocked in both painful and funny ways--rarely have family dynamics been captured so vividly. If there was an ensemble Oscar, this cast would deserve it. --Bret Fetzer



Synopsis
Noah Baumbach's THE SQUID AND THE WHALE is an excruciatingly humane, often hilarious portrait of a disintegrating family in mid-1980s Brooklyn. Set in the stately yet off-kilter neighbourhood of Park Slope, the film tells the story of the Berkmans, a quintessentially New York family struggling to keep things together. Family patriarch Bernard (Jeff Daniels) is a published author and writing teacher whose insecurity over his own lack of recognition continues to plague him. Meanwhile his wife Joan (Laura Linney) is grappling with her own sense of unsettlement. Their sons, who are caught in the crossfire, express their confusion in different ways: 16-year-old Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) tries to pass off Pink Floyd's Hey You as his own hit in the school talent show, while his 12-year-old brother Frank (Owen Kline) begins to explore his budding sexuality. When Bernard and Joan finally decide to separate, the family must confront their unravelling situation head on. Rarely has family dysfunction been captured so frankly and honestly as in THE SQUID AND THE WHALE. Baumbach claims his film is only semi-autobiographical but, from the pitch-perfect writing and nostalgic tone, it feels as if we're watching home videos of the writer-director's past. Featuring an outstanding pop-music soundtrack (Bert Jansch, The Feelies, Lou Reed), the film boasts excellent performances from its cast.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Science Of Sleep [DVD] [2006]

The Science Of Sleep [DVD] [2006]

DVD ~ Miou Miou
3.6 out of 5 stars (15)  £3.98
Me And You And Everyone We Know [DVD]

Me And You And Everyone We Know [DVD]

DVD ~ Miranda July
3.4 out of 5 stars (20)  £4.98
Everything Is Illuminated [DVD] [2005]

Everything Is Illuminated [DVD] [2005]

DVD ~ Elijah Wood
3.8 out of 5 stars (17)  £2.98
Eagle Vs. Shark [DVD] [2007]

Eagle Vs. Shark [DVD] [2007]

DVD ~ Joel Tobeck
3.8 out of 5 stars (18)  £4.98
Into the Wild [DVD] [2007]

Into the Wild [DVD] [2007]

DVD ~ Emile Hirsch
4.1 out of 5 stars (79)  £4.97
› Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
5 star:
 (10)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Blows No Good, 29 Jul 2006
By John Self "www.theasylum.wordpress.com" (Belfast, NI) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
The Squid and the Whale is Noah Baumbach's autobiographical film about his parents' divorce. Beyond that I know nothing of the source material or of Baumbach's life - not even which of the two boys in the film represents him - but you don't need to, of course. And the truth of everything in the film beams through it so clearly that you would be in no doubt, anyway, that it came from real life.

Jeff Daniels gives a quietly barnstorming performance as Bernard (pronounced Ber-NARD) Berkman, a lazily bearded New York writer whose literary career is on the skids. His wife Joan (Laura Linney), meanwhile, has been published in the New Yorker and is about to get some good news about her first novel... Berkman is presented to us in toto in the opening scene, playing tennis with the family, the hilariously bitter competitive dad figure as he takes his son to one side and whispers "Try to get your mother's backhand. It's her weak point."

When the divorce is announced, along with joint custody ("Joint custody blows" - for some reason this has been changed on the UK DVD cover to 'joint custody sucks'), elder son Walt takes dad's side, accusing his mother of breaking up the family. He dates Sophie, a charming but unworldly girl who is taken in by his faux-intellectualism (another inheritance from his father), describing her favourite book as 'minor Fitzgerald,' bluffing a discussion and calling Metamorphosis 'Kafkaesque,' and faking authorship of Pink Floyd songs. Younger son Frank, aged - what? - ten or eleven, takes to masturbating and smearing his semen in public places, and to alcohol.

If all this makes it seem utterly grim, that could not be further from the truth. The film is not (or not only) uplifting in a Richard Yates way, for its honesty in portraying misery. It is bitterly brilliant, painfully funny, and with an almost non-stop series of great lines and scenes, mostly involving the self-involved Berkman Sr. One reviewer on imdb.com, who knew Jonathan Baumbach, the basis for Bernard Berkman, says that Daniels "amazingly, underplays the actual father."

Bernard: Joan, let me ask you something. All that work I did at the end of our marriage, making dinners, cleaning up, being more attentive. It never was going to make a difference, was it? You were leaving no matter what...

Joan: You never made a dinner.

Bernard: I made burgers that time you had pneumonia.

And the film is beautifully paced, too, with so many scenes cut short where other films would have played through until they became tiring or over-obvious. As a result, there is not a single boring moment in the entire film, which in fact comes in at well under 90 minutes.

It's quietly moving too, particularly in the central scene where son Walt explains to the psychotherapist that the only happy memory he can recall was when he was six years old, and doesn't involve his father. It also explains the title of the film, which comes back in the neat coda.

A vital film, and essential viewing.
Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A thoughful film for grown-ups, 8 Sep 2006
By Bluebell (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
Sometimes painful often very funny I enjoyed this film with its witty dialogue and satirizing of academic pretensions about English literature criticism. So many US films are geared to the teen market, but this was a film for people who have experienced some of the vicissitudes of relationships and family life. The characters were sympathetically portrayed. Nothing was black and white: every character had good and bad points-just like real-life iteractions between people. All the acting was excellent, especially the two sons.
I wouldn't rate this as one of the greatest films ever made, but it was very well worth buying, and viewing again.
Comment Comments (2) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Squid with teeth..., 2 Jul 2006
By H. L. Mason "relyonme" (Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Yes indeed this squid really leaves its mark! This is one of the really rare cases where I fully agree with all those frothy critics who drooled over this jewel of a film. Whilst the interview on the extras part of this dvd might prompt you to doubt the coherence of the writer/director Noah Baumbach, don't be in any doubt - this is a real miniature masterpiece.
Whether you're into psychology or not, this puts you right in the centre of this family and all its problems, which are are too common today (as in the '80s, when the story takes place). There are so many special moments, that it would be misleading to select any one for mention.
Equally impossible would be to select any one person for special mention among the crew. All the actors are incredibly convincing, as is the script etc.
This is a MEMORABLE WORK OF ART.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't touch this with a barge pole.....
I bought this on the strength of various reviews, including a five-star rave in the usually most reliable Irish Times. It is positively awful. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr Paul English

4.0 out of 5 stars I was hesitant about watching this
as the reviews had been excellent and I thought I would be disappointed. I was not. It is very well acted and shows the sadness of divorce on the whole family but there is a... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mama England

5.0 out of 5 stars I laughed non-stop
The previous review sums up this film very well. I had never heard this film advertised etc and randomly came across it at a friends house. What luck!! Read more
Published 17 months ago by nona

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Light Entertainment
I found this film quite deep and at points, quite uncomfortable watching. I felt it painted a real picture of what the two boys went through during their parents divorce from... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Frequent Flyer

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing.....
i bought this film the other week (in morrisons for £2.99)and i watched it on my own, the film was moving, although i failed to see the humor, im sure if i watched it again i... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Lauren E. Everington

5.0 out of 5 stars Painful, sad and funny
I went to school in Oxford in the 1980s. Highly-cultured Brooklyn intellectual families seem to have a lot in common with North Oxford dons, so the film did feel familiar. Read more
Published 18 months ago by William Cohen

5.0 out of 5 stars The new difining divorce movie
Sometimes it just takes an excellent story to make an excellent movie. Noah Baumbach has done it with "The Squid & the Whale". Read more
Published 22 months ago by Nicolai Würtz Knudsen

2.0 out of 5 stars Well executed misery
First off this film is very well done, the acting is great etc... However as this film is about a family imploding, so if that's your topic of choice this film is for you... Read more
Published 22 months ago by J. Woolfenden

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic film
I bought this film a while ago and it has sat on my shelf largely because it's not one of those films you *cannot wait* to watch. Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2007 by E. JONES

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
This is a great DVD - buy it! The film definitely makes my top ten of last year, it tells that the director has worked closely with Wes Anderson (Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou)... Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2007 by Sebastian Murray

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

The Body Shop

The Body Shop - Vitamin C Skin Boost
Protect and boost your glow with The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost.

›Shop The Body Shop

  

Make A Wish

Get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List Make sure you always get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List.

›More info on Wish Lists

  

A Close Shave

Philips Nivea Coolskin HS8060 Moisturizing Rotary Shaving System
For all types of hair removal, stay smooth with Amazon.co.uk.

›Discover Shaving & Hair Removal

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
4.5 out of 5 stars (75)£3.86
 Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga)
Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga) by Stephenie Meyer
4.1 out of 5 stars (464)£6.49
 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
4.1 out of 5 stars (165)£3.99
 The Host
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
4.2 out of 5 stars (84)£3.86

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates