Nocturnal Animals is a movie about revenge, love and the need to hold yourself when people, especially your better half chose not to. Amy Adams plays Susan Morrow, the practical and supposedly wise woman who ends up being with Hutton, played by Armie Hammer, (the undeniably good looking dude who portrays as the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network) over the “too sensitive” Edward played by Jake Gyllenhal. Ford gives audiences a peek into Susan’s life. While she is your archetype of a strong, independent, wealthy, L.A gallerist, ironically, she is pretty dead inside. This strong state of mind and desolation are conveyed by the black car she drives, the black suits her husband and his driver wear, and the fact that it is always almost night. At one point Susan even says, “It’s junk. It is junk. Total junk,” referring to the absurdity of the art world she lives in.
Set in the outskirts of an untouchable L.A, one evening, Susan out of the blue receives a copy of a novel from her ex husband Edward, indicating that it was written for her. Susan begins to read and very quickly the audience finds out how tragic the story is going to turn out. Tony’s wife, Laura, played by Isla Fisher (Amy’s look alike) and daughter India (Ellie Bamber) are brutally raped and murdered as Gyllenhaal’s character helplessly experiences it from afar.
Back in L.A, Amy is distraught because of how insensitive the plot is. Ironic, isn’t it? Since all she ever wanted of Edward was not to be so sensitive. On the brighter side, this may be the only truth that Susan is living at the moment because clearly, Edward is telling her how debilitated he had felt when she left him. Following this is only a collection of flashbacks that are all integral to the understanding of the movie as a whole. In the midst of all this unraveling tragedy, two time Oscar nominee Michael Shannon portrays the Texan cop from the novel whose sense of empathy encompasses many other characters, including Edward and Susan.