Software Notebook

[Janoc Florez]

The Notebook is a 2004 American romantic drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes, from a screenplay by Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi, and based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. The film stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as a young couple who fall in love in the 1940s. Their story is read from a notebook in the present day by an elderly man, telling the tale to a fellow nursing home resident.

The Notebook had its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 20, 2004, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 25, 2004. Despite generally mixed reviews from critics, Gosling and McAdams were singled out for praise for their performances. The film was a sleeper hit at the box office, grossing $117 million against its $29 million budget, and has become a cult classic in the years since its release.[2][3][4][5] On November 11, 2012, an extended version premiered on ABC Family with deleted scenes added back into the original storyline.[6]

In 1940, at a carnival in Seabrook Island, South Carolina, lumber mill worker Noah Calhoun sees 17-year-old heiress Allison "Allie" Hamilton, there for the summer. He pursues her and they begin a romance.

When Allie meets Noah's father Frank Calhoun, he immediately likes her. However, when Noah meets her parents, they disapprove. That night, Noah takes Allie to the abandoned Windsor Plantation, telling her he will buy and restore it. As the sun sets, they start to make love for the first time. Noah's friend Fin interrupts to warn them Allie's parents sent the police out looking for her.

When Allie and Noah return to her parents' mansion, Allie's mother Anne makes it clear they are against the relationship and forbid her from seeing him. Noah leaves and Allie follows, they argue and she impulsively breaks up with him, but immediately regrets it.

The next morning, Anne announces they will be returning to Charleston immediately. Allie seeks Noah to apologize but is unsuccessful, so asks Fin to tell him she loves him. Noah rushes to Allie's when he hears but is too late.

Noah writes Allie every day for a year, but Allie's mother intercepts the letters. When all 365 go unanswered, he stops writing to move on. He and Fin enlist and fight in the Battle of the Bulge where Fin is killed. Allie nurses wounded soldiers in a hospital, meeting Captain Lon Hammond Jr., a young lawyer who comes from old Southern money. After a few years, they become engaged, to Allie's parents' delight.

Noah returns from the war and finds his father has sold their home so Noah can buy The Windsor Plantation. He believes that if he restores it, Allie will return to him. Once it's completed, Noah resists selling it. As Allie tries on her wedding dress, she sees a newspaper photo of Noah in front of the renovated house and faints.

Allie's feelings for Noah come rushing back, so she asks Lon to take a solo trip before the wedding. Returning to Seabrook, she finds Noah living in their dream house. They rekindle and consummate their relationship. Noah tells Allie about the 365 letters and they realize her mother kept them from her.

Days later, Anne appears to warn Allie that Lon has come to Seabrook. She also reveals that she once loved a lower-class young man in town and still wonders how changed their lives would have been if she had chosen differently. She gives Allie Noah's letters, suggesting she choose wisely.

Noah and Allie argue and he tells her to decide what she wants, not what everyone else does. She drives back to her hotel, sobbing and confused, and confesses her infidelity to Lon. He still wants her back, but she follows her heart and returns to Noah.

In the present, the elderly woman is revealed to be Allie, now suffering from dementia. Duke is actually Noah, who uses a pseudonym to not startle her in her disoriented state. The journal he reads to her she wrote during the early stages of her illness, detailing their romance and life together so he could help her come back to him. Noah has kept the promise to read it to her almost daily.

Almost at the end of the journal in the notebook, Allie asks Noah what happened at the end of the story and Noah prompts her that she knows. She briefly recognizes him and remembers. Allie asks how long they have before she forgets again and Duke tells her possibly five minutes. They dance to their song, "I'll Be Seeing You", and she asks about their kids.

However, Allie's dementia quickly relapses and she panics to see a stranger touching her, so is sedated. Duke has a heart attack and is treated in the nursing home while Allie is taken to the dementia ward. Upon recovering and despite not being permitted, Duke sneaks into Allie's room in the night. She instantly recognizes him, they kiss, and fall asleep holding hands. They are found in the morning, having died peacefully in each other's arms.

The film rights to Nicholas Sparks' novel were acquired by New Line Cinema in 1996, represented by producer Mark Johnson.[8] Jeremy Leven was hired to write the script, which caught the attention of director Steven Spielberg in 1998,[9] who wished to film it with Tom Cruise as Noah Calhoun.[10] Spielberg's commitment to other projects led to Jim Sheridan becoming attached to direct the following year. Filming was to start in 1999 but pushed back over rewrites.[11] Sheridan eventually backed out by October 2000 to work on In America.[12] Martin Campbell entered negotiations to direct in March 2001,[10] before he was replaced by Nick Cassavetes a year later.[13] Early in development George Clooney was going play Noah, and Paul Newman the older Noah, but after Clooney watched some Paul Newman movies he went up to Newman and said he did not look like him.[14]

The Notebook was filmed mostly on location in South Carolina, as well as the wintery battlefield just outside Montreal.[18][32] Production offices for the film were set up at the old Charleston Naval Base in North Charleston.[33]

Much of the film's plot takes place in and around Seabrook Island, an actual town which is one of the South Carolina "sea island" localities, located 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Charleston. None of the filming took place in the Seabrook area, however, and instead utilized the surrounding areas. Specifically, the house that Noah is seen fixing up is a private residence at Wadmalaw Island,[34] another locality situated 10 miles (16 km) closer to Charleston. The house was not actually in a dilapidated state at the time and instead was made to look that way by special effects. Contrary to the suggestion in the film's dialogue, neither the house nor the Seabrook area was home to South Carolina Revolutionary hero Francis Marion, whose plantation was actually located northwest of Charleston.[35] The Boone Hall Plantation served as Allie's summer house.[34]

Many of the scenes set in Seabrook were filmed in the town of Mt. Pleasant, (a suburb of Charleston). Other locations included: Edisto Island, Cypress Gardens (in Moncks Corner, South Carolina)[34] with trained birds that were brought in from elsewhere.[36]

The nursing home scenes were filmed at Rice Hope Plantation,[37] located in Georgetown County. The college depicted briefly in the film is identified in the film as Sarah Lawrence College, but the campus that is seen is the College of Charleston.[34]

The film was released on June 25, 2004, in the United States and Canada and grossed $13.5 million from 2,303 theaters in its opening weekend, ranking number 4 at the box office.[39] The film grossed a total of $115.6 million worldwide, $81 million in Canada and the United States and $34.6 million in other countries.[40] It is the 15th highest-grossing romantic drama film of all time.[41]

According to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 53% of 179 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "It's hard not to admire its unabashed sentimentality, but The Notebook is too clumsily manipulative to rise above its melodramatic clichs."[42] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[43] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[44]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, awarding it three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling the photography "striking in its rich, saturated effects" and stating that the "actors are blessed by good material."[45] Peter Lowry of Film Threat gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of five; praising the performances of both Gosling and McAdams, he wrote: "Gosling and especially McAdams give all-star performances, doing just enough to hand the reins over to the pros, who take what's left of the film and finish the audience off with some touching scenes that don't leave a dry eye in the house." About the film itself, he added: "Overall, The Notebook is a surprisingly good film that manages to succeed where many other "chick flick" like romances fail."[46]

Stephen Holden of The New York Times gave the film a positive review, stating that "the scenes between the young lovers confronting adult authority have the same seething tension and lurking hysteria that the young Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood brought more than 40 years ago to their roles in Splendor in the Grass."[47] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post also gave the film a positive review, she also praised the performances of Gosling and McAdams, stating: "Never mind that McAdams and Gosling don't for a minute call to mind 1940s America; they're both suitably attractive and appealing. Gosling, who delivered a searing and largely unseen screen debut performance in the 2001 drama The Believer, is particularly convincing as a young man who charms his way past a girl's strongest defenses." About the film, she added: "Audiences craving big, gooey over-the-top romance have their must-see summer movie in The Notebook."[48] William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised the performance of McAdams but criticized the performance of Gosling, stating that he "just doesn't have the kind of star power or chemistry with McAdams to anchor this kind of minor-league Gone with the Wind." He also added about the film that it "doesn't completely work on its own terms, mainly because its romantic casting just doesn't spark: It doesn't make us fall in love with its lovers."[49] Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe gave the film two-and-a-half stars, praising the performances of its cast members, writing about McAdams that "she's soulfully committed to the suds in the story and fiercely attentive to the other actors". He added about Gosling: "Gosling is adept at playing sociopaths and intense brooders, and there's reason to think, early on, that Noah might be similarly off, as when he threatens to drop from a Ferris wheel unless Allie agrees to go on a date with him." About the film, he wrote: "Considering the sunny, relatively pleasurable romantic business that precedes it, the elderly stuff seems dark, morbid, and forced upon us."[50]

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