Save the Cat Goes to the Movies Read Online Free PDF Page B

messing with my makeup. I told you a million times,” Anne warns. Trespassing into places we don’t belong will be the running theme.
    Set-Up: A big city party for Michael’s law firm where, if you look Close, you’ll see Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) lurking near the hors d’oeuvres. Michael has it all — a stunning wife and sweet child, a good job, friends. Yet he flirts with Glenn.
    Catalyst: Anne takes their daughter and leaves Michael for the weekend. Alone in the city due to a business meeting, Michael bumps into Glenn. Their flirtation can continue.
    Debate: Can Michael be discreet? From the moment Michael agrees to have a glass of wine with Glenn, he has already strayed. I know this because I’ve asked women, one of whom, while watching this film, kept referring to Michael as “You bastard!” The name-calling begins with this innocent-seeming lunch. The debate question seems to argue trespassing is okay — if we’re careful. Can two adults have a no-fault affair? For a time, as they lock hips in the elevator of Glenn’s edge-o’-hell building and against the sink in her messy kitchen, the answer seems to be: maybe.
    Break into Two: Michael returns home after catting around, manages a “make nice” call to Anne in the country, and all seems swell … until the phone rings. Glenn has his home number. When he agrees to meet her again, Michael plunges into the “upside-down world” of Act Two and an affair that is now a relationship.
    B Story: The B story is the secret “love story” between Glenn and Michael. And though it isn’t love, Michael will get the lesson of a lifetime and learn he really did have it all. By frolicking in the park with Glenn, and later at her place listening to opera, he opens himself up to her. We also learn of a possible root cause of Glenn’s fanatical clinging — the sudden death of her father when she was a girl. Does Glenn have abandonment issues or is she just nuttier than a Hickory Farms Pecan Sampler?
    Fun and Games: In this tense Fun and Games section, the “promise of the premise” shows what happens when being discreet begins to unravel. And yet for now, Michael is still in control. Sure Glenn cuts her wrists to make Michael stay the night with her. Yeah, she shows up at his job unexpectedly with tickets to
Madame Butterfly.
But so far it’s more like a bad date. This is why we signed up to see this movie, to squirm uncomfortably in our seats thinking: “I better call that girl in Accounting and tell her I was kidding when I said we should have coffee sometime.”
    Midpoint: The “bad date” scenario ends, and the A and B stories cross, when Glenn announces she’s pregnant. This news “raises the stakes” and is a great example of an alarming “midpoint bump.” Michael is officially in over his head DNA-wise; the consequences of spreading his seed hits home. And while he handles this news with “compassion,” offering to pay for the abortion — what a guy! — this is not how Glenn wants to handle the situation.
    Bad Guys Close In: Now the “Fun and Games” of a date gone wrong get serious. Both at home with his internal “team” of wife and daughter, and externally, as Michael learns of the “Half Man” in his office (who had an affair and paid the price), the amping up of the trespassing by Glenn gets scarier — and the vice that has Michael in its grip begins to tighten. Posing as a buyer for the home Michael’s now trying to sell, Glenn shows up while he’s out, andlater throws acid on his car. Even at work, Michael’s promotion is jeopardized by his stalker.
    All Is Lost: The tension finally explodes when Glenn follows Michael to his new home, kills his daughter’s bunny, and plops it in a pot of boiling water for Anne to find. (Talk about “whiff of death”!) Symbolically, Glenn is leaving Anne a message: Guess what, the rabbit died — the old school way of proving a pregnancy.
    Dark Night of the Soul: With his wife and daughter