Barton Fink



A 1991 film by The Coen Brothers, often considered one of their best. Barton Fink is a playwright who has gotten a contract to write movies. The enthusiastic studio executive tells him to write a wrestling picture.

Getting a bad case of Writer's Block, he meets Charlie Meadows, an insurance salesman, "W. P. Mayhew" (William Faulkner), his mistress, an excitable producer, and a cast of others.

Notable for earning three awards at Cannes, it completely defies any sort of genre, being somewhat of a comedy-Film Noir-mystery-horror-drama.

Barton Fink provides examples of:
"You think you're in hell, I live here."
 * Alas, Poor Yorick:
 * Affably Evil:
 * Axe Crazy:
 * Captain Obvious: Charlie comments several times on how hot it is
 * Death By Sex:.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: The film is set in 1941. For no particular reason, the anti-Semitic detectives are given a German and an Italian name (Deutsch and Mastrionotti) to evoke the Axis powers, and says "Heil Hitler" before . However, Word of God says this is really just symbolism for symbolism's (scary) sake, not necessarily with a real message attached.
 * Gainax Ending:
 * Genre Busting: As stated above.
 * Have a Gay Old Time: W.P. Mayhew sings: "Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay..."
 * Hell Hotel: The Hotel Earle is rather unsettling to begin with.
 * Goodman's line went something like:

": I'LL SHOW YOU THE LIFE OF THE MIND!"
 * Hollyweird: The disturbing surrealism starts once Barton leaves New York.
 * Hypocrite: Barton makes a big deal about how his work deals with the plights of the common man, yet when Charlie tries talking to him about his own experiences as a common man, Barton insists on talking over him about how own work.
 * Large Ham: As noted, the producer and executive have the times of their lives with their roles.
 * Louis Cypher:.
 * Madness Mantra

"Bare Ruined Choirs ends with "We'll be hearing from that kid, and I don't mean a postcard"
 * Mind Screw:
 * The Murder After:
 * Most Writers Are Writers: The dreaded "Writer With Writer's Block" plot.
 * N-Word Privileges: Jewish studio head Jack Lipnick calls himself and others kikes.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: W. P. Mayhew, based on William Faulkner. Also Barton himself, who's sort of a Writers Suck version of Clifford Odets.
 * No Ending
 * Plot Hole: Possibly intentional, but
 * Politically-Correct History: Averted -- the detectives make it plain that they don't like Barton for being Jewish.
 * Punctuated for Emphasis: "I WILL SHOW YOU THE LIFE OF THE MIND!"
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech
 * The Reveal:
 * Same Story, Different Names: in-universe example of Barton Fink's play vs. screenplay:

The Burlyman ends with "We'll be hearing from that crazy wrestler, and I don't mean a postcard.""

"Barton Fink: He... he said he liked Jack Oakie pictures.
 * Suspect Is Hatless: Barton can't really say much about the man the detectives are looking for:

beat

Detective Mastrionotti: You know, ordinarily we say anything you might remember could be helpful. But I'll be frank with you, Fink. That is not helpful.

Detective Deutsch: Notice he's not writing it down."


 * Throw It In: The bird diving into the ocean at the end wasn't planned.
 * Trauma Conga Line: First, Barton gets a little writer's block. Then he discovers that his idol is a drunken, empty shell of a man. Then . Then . Then, at which point he loses his job. One hell of a route from A to B, there.
 * He doesn't lose his job he is still under contract. The studio owns everything he will ever make, but they will never produce them.
 * Missed the best part. His entire family.
 * The Un-Reveal:
 * Vomit Discretion Shot: Subverted; after seeing Audrey's body, Charlie goes to the bathroom to throw up.
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: Barton and his belief in the common man.