Wicker Park
Period 1
Manali, Bhrigu, Jessica, Taz, and Margo
Story
• Within the first 11 minutes we are presented with
split screens and a flashback involving our 3 main
characters. We know that the main characters
names are Matt ,Lisa, & Luke. Matt is a business
man who is leaving for China and has plans of
getting engaged or married. He also is close friends
with Luke but hasn’t seen him for some time. But
soon after, we are introduced to Lisa and find out
that Matt was attracted to Lisa through a
flashback.
Plot
• Matt returns to Chicago with Fiancé after
being in New York
• Matt puts life and job on hold all for an
obsessive hunt to find Lisa
• Leads him to a complete different girl who
pretends to Lisa
• Little by little Matt finds clues leading him to
the real Lisa
• At the end Lisa and Matt are reunited
Range
• Range focuses on:
• Restriction/ Unrestricted
- Unrestricted we know more than the characters seem to
know
• Suspense
• Surprise
Depth
• Depth focuses on:
• Subjective
- Recollection of memories
- Scenes detached from the narrative
• Objective
- Knowledge of character according to depiction by
camera carrying more narrative-orientated information
Meaning
• Emotional meaning throughout the movie is desperation
and trying to fight for what you want the most
• Explicit meaning how much it shows us in a scene and how
much the character knows of what’s going on
• Implicit in the way the Characters act towards each other
• Symptomatic in the moods shifted throughout the movie
• Referential by showing us not through dialogue but through
the characters actions
Good Story?
• Over all, I believe that Wicker Park has a good story
line. There is a unified plot, even though there are
several different plots going on, the movie all comes
together in the end, because there is a reason for
everything in the movie from the color to the objects
such as the high heels. The audience comes to know
this in the end, when more awareness sets in and the
audience realizes that “there is a method to the
madness”.
• The movie is an unbiased view is not plausible, because
even though when one watches the movie the first time it
makes sense, but when one re watches it again you start to
realize that some of the things that the actors do are not
what would be feasible in real life and the audience can tell
where the movie falls short in believability. the externally
observable truth is that we know as people that from the
outside, you can tell that Matt is really in love with the real
Lisa and not Alex, but from someone that knows what is
going on in their heads. I think the movie portrays the
internal truths of human nature well because it shows the
basic human nature such as jealousy and passion for
someone, which are the primal human instincts and I think
the movie director really wanted to show that.
• The externally observable truth is that we know as
people that from the outside, you can tell that Matt is
really in love with the real Lisa and not Alex, but from
someone that knows what is going on in their heads. I
think the movie portrays the internal truths of human
nature well because it shows the basic human nature
such as jealousy and passion for someone, which are
the primal human instincts and I think the movie
director really wanted to show that.
Themes/ Tropes
• Themes/Tropes- There are several themes in Wicker Park, since
the whole movie is focused around love and how the main
character is looking for his lost love Lisa which he doesn’t know
where she went because she was supposed to meet him , but there
seems to be a twist in the story because Lisa’s friend also has an
obsession for him as well. The theme in this movie seems to
represent a struggle to regain something that is lost, such as
regaining a lost love and there seems to be a pattern of struggling
to find out what is lost and what is going on with the outside
characters in relation to the main characters internal struggle.
There seems to be tropes regarding a struggle of power as well
between Alex and The main character because they are both
struggling against each other, one is struggling to uncover Lisa
and one is struggling to hide her, so they clash against each other
and make each other either more held back or one has more of a
distinct advantage.
Intent/Message
• Morality
• Wicker Park was generally for the
younger audience because of its morality
and ethics it hungers for foul language,
arrogance, defiance of wholesome
morality and being rated PG13.
• Human Nature
It explores love an desire and the how far someone will
go to be loved, as a human.
• Social Problems
Alex had trouble finding that she was in society.
• Struggle for Human Dignity
• The struggle to be loved, wanted, and accepted was apart of the movie. Also
the struggle of losing someone that you care for.
• Complexity of Human Relationships
• Humans can be manipulated.
• Innocence of Awareness
• What started out as an innocent obsession led to more. Ex. With the crazy
girl led to stealing identity and with main character led to stalking the lover.
• Moral
• The heart desires what it wants and will stop at no means to get what it
wants. Also hiding your identity will never overcome your true life.
Subplots and
Subtext
distribution and duration of temporal shifts, expressed in
minutes
40
35
30
25
Column1
Column2
Column3
Column4
20
15
10
5
0
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Title/Opening Credits
• The title ‘Wicker Park’ is chosen because the the main
characters revolve around the location Wicker Park.
• The main points in the movie happens at Wicker Park.
It gets to the highest point of suspense in the movie.
• The opening credits foreshadows an event that brings
vital information to the audience.
Motivation
• The director shoots the movie in the present and at various
emotional and heartbreaking moments for each character.
Furthermore, these flashbacks with many throughout the movie,
helps contribute to each of the characters’ motivations, Though
the beginning drags, once you begin to watch you're sucked in and
curious what will happen next, all the way until the end. On
another note, the title Wicker Park which also means obsessed
gives you another hint of the characters’ motivation throughout
the film. Additionally, motivations play a crucial role within the
Wick Park in that the protagonist, Matthew, is motivated to
finding his love Lisa. He doesn’t stop looking for her at any point
in the movie, but is rather extremely motivated. In addition,
Matthew is constantly motivated to find out who he is, as he is
portrayed as someone “lost” and looking for what to do.
• On another note, the title Wicker Park which also
means obsessed gives you another hint of the
characters’ motivation throughout the film.
Additionally, motivations play a crucial role within the
Wick Park in that the protagonist, Matthew, is
motivated to finding his love Lisa. He doesn’t stop
looking for her at any point in the movie, but is rather
extremely motivated. In addition, Matthew is
constantly motivated to find out who he is, as he is
portrayed as someone “lost” and looking for what to
do.
Motif
• Throughout Wicker Park, whenever Matthew feels he
has a connection with Lisa a typical song is constantly
played. For example, the song played is “Plus/ Minus
All I Do”. Furthermore, Lisa/ Alex wearing red and
having red throughout the story demonstrates passion
and obsession throughout the film especially with
Alex. In addition, the visual motif encompasses a
“diamond” with numerous scenes and images ongoing
on one time. These motif signifies the ideology of
Point of View form the audience, in that events can be
seen from various angles and different ways to
interpret a situation.
Parallelism
• Parallelism- There are two scenes in the movie that are
very alike except the only difference is that the people
and the actors in the movie are very much different.
The parallelism occurs when the high heels with the
red soles are shown in the first scene in the restaurant
where the main character sees Lisa after a long time.
• Then afterwards, they are shown again in the
contrasting scene in Lisa’s apartment, where the main
character is shown looking at them because he thinks
that they are Alex’s (The fake Lisa). The two scenes
are very similar in many ways because they juxtapose
each other
• . Also, there is another scene where Matt first puts the
high heels on Lisa and she tells him that she is a size 7
and ½ , this compares to the scene where matt tries on
the same high heels on Alex and determines that she is
not the same shoe size, the two scenes directly
compare with each other because they are doing the
same action, except in a different location and with
different people.
Characterization
• Matt Simon
The main character Matt was originally into
photography and worked at a local camera store. As the
movie progressed his life changed into working for a
huge business and having a fiancé. Throughout the story
Matt falls in love with Lisa and later learns that he has to
leave for business, never receiving the answer if she
wanted to go with him or not he is forced to live without
her. Matt emotionally doesn’t know what he wants and
throughout the movie finds out he is tricked by Alex.
Anyone who has ever been in love can relate to him.
• Luke
Luke is Matt’s best friend. He is used by Alex who only wants
information about Matt. Though Luke really loves her, Alex
doesn’t care for him at all. Anyone who has ever been used
can relate to him.
• Lisa
Lisa is the love of Matthews’s life. She was first spotted by
Matt on a video and every since they had been obsessed about
each other. She was a dancer, and was trying to separate from
her crazy ex boyfriend. Anyone who has ever been in love can
relate to her.
• Alex
Alex is the stalker that had been watching Matt long
before Lisa came in the picture. Once she realized that
her neighbor Lisa was dating Matt she made sure she
kept them apart and acted as if she were another Lisa
just to be close to Matt. Anyone who has ever been in
love on the sidelines can relate to her.
• Rebecca
Rebecca was the fiancé of Matt’s.
Information on
Characters
• The audience is met to feel suspense to if he is ever
going to meet the real Lisa again or will Alex really
convince him that he should love her. The big question
is can love prevail? It is clear that the hero is Lisa and
the villain you could say though primarily just a stalker
that wants to be loved is Alex. The values of the
characters speak for themselves and they are meant to
display the characteristics of being and love so bad that
you would do anything.
Point of View
• Throughout the movie we are given 3 points of view
from Matt, Lisa, and Alex.
• They are presented emotionally and through
flashbacks in a subjective shot to show us how the
character felt at a specific point
• Diegetic music is played in the background
• We are also given the emotional outlook through each
character
Important Scenes
• Important Scenes-The three most important scenes would
have to come from the three parts of the movie, the
beginning, middle and the end, or in other terms the rising
action, climax and falling action.
• The first scene that was important for the viewers
knowledge would be the scene where they first show Lisa
running out of the restaurant because she is upset and she
breaks her high heels. This scene might not seem important
at first but it is critical so when we reach the climax, the
viewer realizes that it was Lisa in the restaurant who was
running after she got the phone call from Alex. It also
shows the important of the red sole on the bottom of the
high heel because that comes to be known as a trademark of
Lisa.
• The second scene that is important is from the Climax,
where Matt tries the high heels on Alex, he is trying to
determine whether Alex is an imposter by asking Alex
her shoe size. It is an important scene because at that
moment, we know why we had knowledge of Lisa’s
shoe size from before in the beginning of the movie.
• The third scene that was struck as important is the
scene in the end, where Matt finally meets Lisa in the
airport and it is an emotional part. The viewer gets the
feel about how desperate both of them were to find
each other and the viewer feels accomplished and
satisfied.
Settings
• Chicago is a perfect place for the movie to take place
because out of all the thousands and thousands of
people the main characters happen to bump into each
other.
• The place Wicker Park is the place where Matthew and
Lisa’s bond become closer and stronger. That place
becomes significant to Matthew, Lisa, and Alex.
• Wicker Park is Matt’s and Lisa’s cherished meeting
place. It is about sunset on the 5th day where Lisa waits
for her long lost love to meet her, and as she waits Matt
desperately races to their meeting spot.
Dialogue/Quotes
• Matthew: When you see something from afar, you develop a
fantasy. But when you see it up close, 9 times out of 10, you wish
you hadn't.
• Alex: Love makes you do crazy things, insane things. Things in a
million years you'd never see yourself do. But there you are doing
them... can't help it.
• Luke: So she had the same name, same perfume, same shoe size.
That’s so hot. Or, or maybe that’s just creepy.
• Matthew: I think it’s a little bit of both, actually.
• Matthew: I guess I just have to make the right decision.
• Jeweler Responding: In the end, it is not just your eye that must
decide.