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The Box
Norma and Arthur Lewis, a suburban couple with a young child, receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable consequences. A mysterious stranger delivers the message that the box promises to bestow upon its owner $1 million with the press of a button. However pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world; someone they don't know. With just 24 hours to have the box in their possession, Norma and Arthur find themselves in the cross-hairs of a startling moral dilemma and must face the true nature of their humanity.
2009 · Directed by Richard Kelly · 115 min · Thriller · Science Fiction · Screenplay in the scene database · 15 frames
Tagline
You are the experiment.
Plot
A CIA internal memo relates that a man named Arlington Steward recovered from severe burn wounds induced by a lightning strike and is delivering units related to the Mars project.
In December 1976, married couple Norma and Arthur Lewis awaken early one morning to find a mysterious package on their doorstep. Inside is a wooden box with a button protected by a glass dome, a key, and a note stating that "Mr. Steward will visit at 5:00pm". Norma and Arthur have breakfast with their son, Walter, before Arthur heads to work at NASA, where he works in optics and was involved in designing the camera for the Viking Mars probe. Arthur learns he has been rejected from the astronaut program due to failing the psychological exam.
Norma, who teaches literature at an elite private school, reveals her disfigured right foot to her class during a discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre's vision of Hell. She learns from her boss that her tuition discount for Walter's school is being revoked, causing financial concern. Later, Arlington Steward, a man with a severely disfigured face, arrives at their door as promised. He presents an offer: if they press the button, someone they do not know will die, and they will receive one million dollars. Steward leaves them with 24 hours to decide.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Richard Kelly
- Cinematography: Steven Poster
- Edited by: Sam Bauer
- Music: Régine Chassagne, Owen Pallett, Win Butler
- Production design: Alec Hammond
- Produced by: Richard Kelly, Dan Lin, Sean McKittrick
Cast
- Cameron Diaz as Norma Lewis
- James Marsden as Arthur Lewis
- Frank Langella as Arlington Steward
- James Rebhorn as Norm Cahill
- Holmes Osborne as Dick Burns
- Sam Oz Stone as Walter Lewis
- Gillian Jacobs as Dana
- Celia Weston as Lana Burns
- Lisa K. Wyatt as Rhonda Martin
- Mark S. Cartier as Martin Teague
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: MRC, Radar Pictures, Darko Entertainment
- Budget: $30,000,000
- Box office: $33,333,531
- Themes: research, husband wife relationship, experiment, sacrifice, library, nasa, homicide, 1970s, paranoia, stalker
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