(500) Days of Summer (2009)

The 2009 film (500) Days of Summer has gained lots of critical success, earning praise from critics such as Roger Ebert and Peter Travers. It is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and earned two Golden Globe nominations. Does this film deserve so much praise? I think it does.

The writing in the screenplay is original and fun to follow. The story is presented as a nonlinear narrative. We know from the beginning of the story that Tom Hansen and Summer Finn are broken up, but how did they get that way? The film jumps around this 500 day relationship, going from early in the relationship, to the end, then jumping back to the middle, and so on. This different format is much more interesting than the typical mode of storytelling which is beginning, middle, and end.

It also defies the typical genre of romantic-comedy. Director Marc Webb has stated that it’s more of a coming of age story. I do believe it’s not so much a rom-com, but I am not convinced it’s a coming of age story. Coming of age implies that the protagonist Tom has learned and matured. We see Tom quit his job and reach out to his dream career, but I don’t think Tom ever truly learned anything from his relationship with Summer. He played the victim the entire time and behaved despicably, projecting his image of a perfect woman onto Summer. At the end of the film, he meets a new woman named Autumn, and we are left to assume they might start a relationship. Frankly, I’m worried about Autumn. Who’s to say Tom won’t act childish in this relationship as well? Get out of there, Autumn. Still, I like that it plays around with genre. In the end, I would classify it as a dark comedy.

This leads me to the idea of the Gaze being used in this movie. Tom projecting his preferred image of Summer is certainly a variation of the Male Gaze. There are two matching scenes where Tom tells what he loves and hates about Summer. At first he expresses what he loves about her: her smile, her birthmark, her knees, etc. We see the camera focus on these parts of her. After the breakup, he says he hates these parts. Did Tom ever really know who Summer was as a person? Or did he envision an ideal person and relationship that no woman could ever live up to? I say the latter.

The editing is also very noteworthy in this film. Without the excellent work of Alan Edward Bell, there wouldn’t be some of the most poignant scenes in the movie, such as the “Expectation/Reality” series. The screen is split into two parts, Tom’s expectations of what will happen with Summer on the left and the reality of what happens on the right. It’s a very striking visual.

These are only a few elements of (500) Days of Summer that make it a great film. I think it appeals to a wide audience and the story will hold up over time, much like some classic Woody Allen films.