Synopsis/Details
Autumn, late 1940s. A working man goes home for dinner in the evening. He walks into a house, is greeted by a woman in the kitchen, and sits down near a preoccupied little boy in the living room; then he gets up, goes to the bathroom to wash his hands, and sits down in the dining room—all this time more or less unnoticed by the woman and the little boy. Suddenly the man notices that he is in the wrong house, that these two people are not his wife and son. As they look at him genuinely for the first time, he abruptly leaves and goes to the next house on the block. There the same man is greeted in the same way by a woman in the kitchen: “That you, dear? Dinner’s almost ready.”
Story & Logistics
Story Type:
Hero's Journey
Story Situation:
Deliverance
Story Conclusion:
Ambiguous
Linear Structure:
Linear
Moral Affections:
Disinterestedness
Cast Size:
Several
Locations:
Couple
Characters
Lead Role Ages:
Female Adult, Male Adult
Hero Type:
Anti-Hero, Ordinary
Villian Type:
Anti-Villian
Stock Character Types:
Boy next door, Everyman, Girl next door
Advanced
Adaption:
Based on Existing Fiction
Subgenre:
Comedy, Drama, Family, Life Story, Literary Adaption, Parody, Satire, Urban Comedy
Life Topics:
Mid-life Crisis/Middle Age
Time Period:
Atomic Age (after 1945), Late modern period, Post-war era (1946–1962)
Country:
United States of America (USA)
Time of Year:
Autumn/Fall
Relationship Topics:
By marriage, Family, Genetic, Husband, Practices, Repression
Writer Style:
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Ben Hecht, Charles Brackett
