Tom Ford’s New Movie

Tom Ford’s new movie is a psychological thriller that explores the world of rich people’s absurd problems (you mean a fashion designer trying to become a movie director isn’t enough of a rich person problem?).

Nocturnal Animals is the story of Susan (Amy Adams), an art dealer who is haunted by a dark novel written by her ex-husband (Jake Gyllenhaal). While she’s obsessing about this book, she finds time to struggle with her world “…the world of absurd rich [people], the hollowness and emptiness I perceive in our culture” – Ford told The Hollywood Reporter.

But, “isn’t Tom Ford everything he is precisely thanks to that absurd world in which we pay thousands of dollars for a handbag or a pair of shoes?”, you may ask. Ford explored the topic of materialism and consumerism in his first movie, A Single Man (which he called his mid-life crisis on screen) and he does it again here, projecting his personal struggles with his superficial rich world onto the lead character of the movie.

If you are expecting a Tom Ford movie to be somewhat of a runway show, you will be disappointed: not a single piece of the movie’s wardrobe was made by Ford. He explains that was because he is not making a movie to sell clothes (not that he needs to). There was even an instance where Arianne Phillips, the costume designer wanted to use a pair of Tom Ford sunglasses but Ford said seeing the logo would take the viewer out of the experience. Bravo, Tommy!

Nocturnal Animals opened on early November and has pretty good reviews. How will the characters end up? Will they solve the dichotomy in which Ford finds himself in and manage to reconcile their mundane concerns rooted in materialism and status with what is really important in life? Will the wardrobe be as good as it would have been if it had been designed by Tom Ford? The answers to all those questions are the following: “they will still be rich”, “no” and “no”.*

*I don’t really know, those answers are pure speculation.