Inside Llewyn Davis

Though Davis is a fictional character, the story was partly inspired by folk singer Dave Van Ronk's autobiography.^[5] Most of the folk songs performed in the film are sung in full and recorded live. T Bone Burnett was the executive music producer. Principal photography took place in early 2012, primarily in New York City. The film, an international co-production between companies in France, the United Kingdom and the United States, was financed by StudioCanal before it received an American distributor.


Inside Llewyn Davis premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2013, where it won the Grand Prix. The film was theatrically released in France on November 6, 2013, and in the United Kingdom on January 24, 2014, by StudioCanal. It was given a limited release by CBS Films in the United States on December 6, 2013, before opening in a wide release on January 10, 2014. The film received critical acclaim and was nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Cinematography and Best Sound Mixing) and three Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Isaac), and Best Original Song. Inside Llewyn Davis has been held in high critical esteem since its release, being voted the 11th-best film of the 21st in both a 2016 BBC poll and a 2017 The New York Times list.^[6][7] The film was ranked 14 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "50 Best Movies of the 2010s" and 2 on The Hollywood Reporter's list of the "50 Best Films of the 21st Century (So Far)."^[8][9] of the best films since 2000.

Plot[edit]

In 1961, Llewyn Davis is a struggling folk singer in New York City's Greenwich Village. His solo album Inside Llewyn Davis is not selling; he is penniless and sleeps on acquaintances' couches. After playing The Gaslight Café one night, he is beaten up in the alley behind the café by a man in a suit.


Davis awakens in the apartment of two friends, the Gorfeins. As he leaves, their cat escapes and is locked out. He takes it to the apartment of Jim and Jean Berkey, where Jean reluctantly allows Davis to stay the night. Jean tells Davis that she is pregnant, and that he could be the father. The next morning, Davis opens a window and the Gorfeins' cat escapes. Later, Jean asks Davis to pay for an abortion, though she is upset it may be Jim's child she is terminating.


Davis visits his sister, hoping to borrow money. Instead, she gives him a box of his belongings, which he tells her to discard. She mentions that he could make money by returning to the Merchant Marine. On Jim's invitation, Davis records a space travel-themed novelty song with Jim and Al Cody. Needing money for the abortion, Davis agrees to an immediate $200 rather than royalties. Davis tries to make an appointment for the abortion, only to learn that payment will not be necessary because he already paid for the same procedure two years earlier on behalf of another woman who kept the child without informing him.


Davis captures what he believes to be the Gorfeins' cat and returns it to them that evening. Asked to perform after dinner, he reluctantly plays "Fare Thee Well", a song he had recorded with his old partner, Mike. When Mrs. Gorfein sings Mike's harmony, Davis angrily tells her not to. She leaves the table crying, then returns with the cat, having realized that it is female and is thus not theirs. Davis leaves with the cat.


Davis drives to Chicago with two musicians: beat poet Johnny Five and jazz musician Roland Turner. During the trip, he discloses that his musical partner, Mike Timlin, died by suicide.


At a roadside restaurant, Roland collapses from a heroin overdose. The three stop on the side of the highway to rest. When a police officer tells them to move on, he suspects that Johnny is drunk and orders him out of the car. Johnny resists and is arrested. Without the keys, Davis abandons the car, leaving the cat and the unconscious Roland behind. In Chicago, Davis auditions for Bud Grossman, who says he is not suited to be a solo performer but suggests he join a trio Grossman is forming. Davis rejects the offer and hitchhikes back to New York. Driving while the car owner sleeps, he hits a cat; it limps into the woods as Davis watches.


In New York, Davis uses his last $148 for back dues to rejoin the Merchant Marine union. He searches for his seaman's license so he can ship out, but it had been in the box he told his sister to trash. Davis returns to the Union Hall to replace it, but cannot afford the $85 fee. He visits Jean, who tells him she got him a gig at the Gaslight.


At the Gaslight, Davis learns that Pappi, the manager, also had sex with Jean. Davis is thrown out for drunkenly heckling a woman as she performs. He visits the Gorfeins, who graciously welcome him, and learns that the novelty song is likely to be a major hit with massive royalties. He is amazed to see that their actual cat, Ulysses, found his way home.


An expanded version of the film's opening scene is repeated, revealing that that scene had been a flash forward. Davis performs at the Gaslight. Pappi teases him for heckling the previous evening's singer and says that a friend of his is waiting in the alley. As he leaves, Davis watches a young Bob Dylan perform "Farewell". Behind the Gaslight, he is beaten by the suited man for having cruelly heckled his wife, the previous night's performer. Davis watches as the man leaves in a taxi, bidding him "Au revoir".

Sources[edit]

Well before writing the script, the Coens began with a single idea, of Van Ronk being beaten up outside of Gerde's Folk City in the Village. They employed the image in the opening scenes, then periodically returned to the project over the next couple of years to expand the story using a fictional character.^[10] One source for the film was Van Ronk's posthumously published memoir, The Mayor of MacDougal Street (2005).


According to the book's co-author, Elijah Wald, the Coens mined the work "for local color and a few scenes".^[11][12][13] The character is a composite of Van Ronk, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and other musicians from New York City who performed in the Village at that time.^[10] Joel Coen said, "the film doesn't really have a plot. That concerned us at one point; that's why we threw the cat in."^[14]