The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with consequences.

Director:

David Fincher

Writers:

Eric Roth (screenplay), Eric Roth (story)

Stars:

Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton

Won 3 Oscars. Another 81 wins & 157 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cate Blanchett	...	Daisy
Brad Pitt	...	Benjamin Button
Julia Ormond	...	Caroline
Faune Chambers Watkins	...	Dorothy Baker (as Faune Chambers)
Elias Koteas	...	Monsieur Gateau
Donna Duplantier	...	Blanche Devereux
Jacob Tolano	...	Martin Gateau (as Jacob Wood)
Earl Maddox	...	Man at Train Station
Ed Metzger	...	Teddy Roosevelt
Jason Flemyng	...	Thomas Button
Danny Vinson	...	Priest Giving Last Rites
David Jensen	...	Doctor at Benjamin's Birth
Joeanna Sayler	...	Caroline Button
Taraji P. Henson	...	Queenie
Mahershala Ali	...	Tizzy (as Mahershalalhashbaz Ali)

Storyline

On the day that Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, elderly Daisy Williams (nee Fuller) is on her deathbed in a New Orleans hospital. At her side is her adult daughter, Caroline. Daisy asks Caroline to read to her aloud the diary of Daisy's lifelong friend, Benjamin Button. Benjamin's diary recounts his entire extraordinary life, the primary unusual aspect of which was his aging backwards, being diagnosed with several aging diseases at birth and thus given little chance of survival, but who does survive and gets younger with time. Abandoned by his biological father, Thomas Button, after Benjamin's biological mother died in childbirth, Benjamin was raised by Queenie, a black woman and caregiver at a seniors home. Daisy's grandmother was a resident at that home, which is where she first met Benjamin. Although separated through the years, Daisy and Benjamin remain in contact throughout their lives, reconnecting in their forties when in age they finally match up. Some of the revelations ...

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Plot Keywords:

premature aging | aging | lingerie slip | older man younger woman relationship | deformed baby | 

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Taglines:

"I was born under unusual circumstances".

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking

Did You Know?

Trivia

David Fincher directed Brad Pitt in 'Fight Club.' A nod to this film occurs when Benjamin's father asks about "the house on Paper Street." Actually it's Benjamin who asks if his father is visiting "the house on BOURBON Street." This is in reference to a brothel on Bourbon Street in which the two of them had first met. There is no mention of Paper Street in this film or in the script.

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Goofs

A 1940s radio jingle for Pepsi-Cola can be heard in the background during a daylight porch scene in the mid 1920s.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Daisy: What are you looking at, Caroline?
Caroline: The wind, mom.
[yawns]
Caroline: They say the hurricane is coming.

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Crazy Credits

The Paramount and Warner Bros. logos are in the form of mosaics constructed from several buttons.

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Connections

Featured in Side by Side (2012)

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Soundtracks

Wah Dee Dah
Written by Irving Mills, J. Russel Robinson, and Ned Washington
Performed by Cab Calloway
Courtesy of JSP Records

User Reviews

As Time Goes By

I found this to be an interesting film; certainly not boring as I had heard from a few people who saw it in the theater. To me, it was simply good storytelling.

Yes, it's slow, especially by today's movie standards, but it's certainly a unique story and it's nicely filmed, acted and directed. Story-wise, it's one of those films I understand if people love it or hate it. I'm somewhat in the middle and leaning toward the positive.

For a movie that runs for over 2 hours and 40 minutes and is not some suspense or action film, it has to be pretty good to hold one's interest. I can only speak for myself; it held my interest for 95 percent of it.

I think the first two-thirds of the movie is the best. Brad Pitt as "Benjamin Button" is pretty fascinating, as is the story of him growing up from a wrinkled, old man-baby to a mid-40s guy. When he re-unites with childhood friend "Daisy" (Cate Blanchett) and becomes her lover, the film bogs down in a few spots but few people are going to stop watching after investing two hours. It picks up again, especially in the last minutes when "Benjamin" begins to finally become younger than an adult.

There's a sadness to this story, especially near the end but overall, even though it's central theme seems to be "death," I don't think it's a depressing film. It does remind us, in a big way, that the longer we're around, the more death of friends and loved ones we witness. That's just a sad fact of life. I hear about it all time with my father, who is 91 years old and has seen almost all of his friends die.

It's especially true in this story when Benjamin starts off and has a lot of old friends to begin with! "Benjamin" was an odd person to me; you could root for him, yet not admire him. He often treated people only to satisfy his desires and could have been so much more. Yet, being "a fly on the wall" and observing his interesting life, was memorable, making this a film worthy of the time invested to watch it.

In the end, the movie made me appreciate the friends I do have, and not to take any of them for granted as life passes us by so fast, no matter what direction we're headed!

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian French

Release Date:

25 December 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Benjamin Button

Filming Locations:

San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$150,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$26,853,816, 28 December 2008

Gross USA:

$127,509,326

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$335,802,786

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, The Kennedy/Marshall Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

166 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.40 : 1