The Notebook
The Notebook is a 2004 American romantic drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes, from a screenplay by Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi, and based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. The film stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as a young couple who fall in love in the 1940s. Their story is read from a notebook in the present day by an elderly man, telling the tale to a fellow nursing home resident.
For other uses, see Notebook (disambiguation).The Notebook
- Mark Johnson
- Lynn Harris
- May 20, 2004 (Seattle)
- June 25, 2004 (United States)
124 minutes[1]
United States
English
$29 million
$117.8 million
The Notebook had its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 20, 2004, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 25, 2004. Despite generally mixed reviews from critics, Gosling and McAdams were singled out for praise for their performances. The film was a sleeper hit at the box office, grossing $117 million against its $29 million budget, and has become a cult classic in the years since its release.[2][3][4][5] On November 11, 2012, an extended version premiered on ABC Family with deleted scenes added back into the original storyline.[6]
The film earned several accolades, including the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss for Gosling and McAdams at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. At the 11th Screen Actors Guild Awards, James Garner was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role and Gena Rowlands won Best Supporting Actress – Drama at the 9th Golden Satellite Awards.
Plot[edit]
At a modern-day nursing home, the elderly Duke reads a romantic story from a notebook to a female patient:
In 1940, at a carnival in Seabrook Island, South Carolina, lumber mill worker Noah Calhoun sees 17-year-old heiress Allison "Allie" Hamilton, there for the summer. He pursues her and they begin a romance.
When Allie meets Noah's father Frank Calhoun, he immediately likes her. However, when Noah meets her parents, they disapprove. That night, Noah takes Allie to the abandoned Windsor Plantation, telling her he will buy and restore it. As the sun sets, they start to make love for the first time. Noah's friend Fin interrupts to warn them Allie's parents sent the police out looking for her.
When Allie and Noah return to her parents' mansion, Allie's mother Anne makes it clear they are against the relationship and forbid her from seeing him. Noah leaves and Allie follows, they argue and she impulsively breaks up with him, but immediately regrets it.
The next morning, Anne announces they will be returning to Charleston immediately. Allie seeks Noah to apologize but is unsuccessful, so asks Fin to tell him she loves him. Noah rushes to Allie's when he hears but is too late.
Noah writes Allie every day for a year, but Allie's mother intercepts the letters. When all 365 go unanswered, he stops writing to move on. He and Fin enlist and fight in the Battle of the Bulge where Fin is killed. Allie nurses wounded soldiers in a hospital, meeting Captain Lon Hammond Jr., a young lawyer who comes from old Southern money. After a few years, they become engaged, to Allie's parents' delight.
Noah returns from the war and finds his father has sold their home so Noah can buy The Windsor Plantation. He believes that if he restores it, Allie will return to him. Once it's completed, Noah resists selling it. As Allie tries on her wedding dress, she sees a newspaper photo of Noah in front of the renovated house and faints.
Allie's feelings for Noah come rushing back, so she asks Lon to take a solo trip before the wedding. Returning to Seabrook, she finds Noah living in their dream house. They rekindle and consummate their relationship. Noah tells Allie about the 365 letters and they realize her mother kept them from her.
Days later, Anne appears to warn Allie that Lon has come to Seabrook. She also reveals that she also once loved a lower-class young man in town and still wonders how changed their lives would have been if she had chosen differently. She gives Allie Noah's letters, suggesting she choose wisely.
Noah and Allie argue and he tells her to decide what she wants, not what everyone else does. She drives back to her hotel, sobbing and confused, and confesses her infidelity to Lon. He still wants her back, but she follows her heart and returns to Noah.
In the present, the elderly woman is revealed to be Allie, now suffering from dementia. Duke is actually Noah, who uses a pseudonym to not startle her in her disoriented state. The journal he reads to her she wrote during the early stages of her illness, detailing their romance and life together so he could help her come back to him. Noah has kept the promise to read it to her almost daily.
Almost at the end of the journal in the notebook, Allie asks Noah what happened at the end of the story and Noah prompts her that she knows. She briefly recognizes him and remembers. Allie asks how long they have before she forgets again and Duke tells her possibly five minutes. They dance to their song, "I'll Be Seeing You", and she asks about their kids.
However, Allie's dementia quickly relapses and she panics to see a stranger touching her, so is sedated. Duke has a heart attack and is treated in the nursing home while Allie is taken to the dementia ward. Upon recovering and despite not being permitted, Duke sneaks into Allie's room in the night. She instantly recognizes him, they kiss, and fall asleep holding hands. They are found in the morning, having died peacefully in each other's arms.
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
The film was released June 25, 2004, in the United States and Canada and grossed $13.5 million from 2,303 theaters in its opening weekend, ranking number 4 at the box office.[39] The film grossed a total of $115.6 million worldwide, $81 million in Canada and the United States and $34.6 million in other countries.[40] It is the 15th highest-grossing romantic drama film of all time.[41]
Home media[edit]
The Notebook was released on VHS and DVD on February 8, 2005, and Blu-ray on May 4, 2010.[68] By February 2010, the film had sold over 11 million copies on DVD.[69]
In February 2019, subscribers to the UK version of Netflix reported that the version of the film on the streaming service had an alternate ending, which substituted a more light-hearted conclusion than the emotional end of the original release. Netflix responded that this alternate version of the film had been supplied to them in error, and soon replaced it with the original version.[70]