Strange and wonderful

Narrator: “This is a story about a man named Harold Crick and his wristwatch.”

When everything seems to fall apart, there is always hope. In Stranger than Fiction, a man whose life is a monotonous, robotic series of motions learns that living is more than vapid habits. It takes some drastic changes in order for him to start living the way he has always wanted to.

Penned by Zach Helm, this story is the most original concept I have experienced in ages, with a brilliant cast of talented actors that bring it to life. Will Ferrel is our leading man, who plays Harold Crick, an IRS auditor who calculates and times every instant of his life, from the steps on his morning commute to the dots in his tie. I have to say that this is the most moving, heartfelt and powerful performance of Ferrel’s career thus far. He is so profoundly human, and fragile, in his search for a solution to the most alarming dilemma. Death.

When revered tragedy novelist Kay Eiffel starts narrating Harold Crick’s life it becomes a bit alarming. While brushing his teeth one morning, Harold believes he is losing it when a British female voice describes his habitual tendency to count the amount of brush strokes while he cleans his teeth.

Dr. Leffler: “I'm afraid what you're describing is schizophrenia.”Harold: “No, no. It's not schizophrenia. It's just a voice in my head. I mean, the voice isn't telling me to do anything. It's telling me what I've already done... accurately, and with a better vocabulary.”

It gets much worse when the voice announces that the seemingly insignificant act of changing the time on his watch will ultimately cause his imminent death.

That’s when Harold seeks out alternative wisdom and finds noteworthy aid in Dr. Jules Hilbert, played by the esteemed and always captivating Dustin Hoffman, a literature professor who endeavors to discover what kind of story Harold is in, and who the mysterious narrator is. He is the sole person who believes Harold’s narration isn’t a product of his insanity.

Simultaneously, Harold is sent to audit Ana Pascal, a feisty, anarchy-bent baker played superbly by Maggie Gyllenhaal, who really stands out in this role. She has a spunky, bold yet gentle demeanor and she eventually warms to Harold, despite the fact that she yells “TAX MAN!” at him angrily when they first meet. Even during their first encounter Harold’s attracting to Ana is revealed by Eiffel, and after a few awkward occasions their relationship becomes a sort of measurement device for whether his story is a comedy or a tragedy.

Harold: Miss Pascal, you can't just not pay your taxes. Ana : Yes, I can.
Harold: You can if you want to get audited.
Ana: Only if I recognize your right to audit me, Mr. Crick
Harold :Miss Pascal, I'm right here auditing you.

While Harold experiences his own trials and tribulations, Eiffel, his narrator, is preoccupied with how to kill him. Emma Thompson plays the sarcastic and extremely witty woman who is constantly occupying herself with ways to kill off the protagonists in every novel she writes. But this time she has writers block. That’s where her assistant, Penny Escher, played by Queen Latifah, comes in. She is hired by Eiffel’s publishers to ensure that the novel is finished by the allotted deadline. The cynical and ironic banter that shifts back and forth between the women is very entertaining, as Eiffel sits in the rain as part of her research, envisioning car crashes as Penny criticizes her very literal technique of observation.

Meanwhile Harold learns, through encouragement from Dr. Hilbert, that despite the possibility of his impending death, he no longer needs to live in a world regimented by numbers and rigid rules. He goes to a guitar store and buys one that says something about him, as Eiffel narrates. He stops counting his brushstrokes, his footsteps and starts to live. One night he decides to reveal his true feelings to Ana Pascal with the sentimental gesture of bringing her a box of flours. Harold: ‘Miss Pascal, I've been odd. I know I've been odd, and I know that there are many forces at work telling me that time is literally, that I should bring these down here to you. But I brought these for you because... I want you.’
Ana: ‘me? ‘Harold: ‘I want you.’Ana : ‘You want me?’Harold : ‘In no uncertain terms.’

Despite the fact that Ana shares feelings for Harold, and his story appears to be a comedy after all, he finally discovers that Eiffel is the narrator. He frantically undergoes the process of seeking her out to convince her to spare his life, because he is…real, after all. But when he reads the story planned out for him he realizes that story is not complete unless it ends with his demise, and decides to sacrifice himself for an amazing piece of literature.

But it is Harold’s selfless, kind nature that saves him from his fate, when Eiffel realizes at the last moment that she can’t kill Harold, who is no longer just a character, despite the poetic, tragic and poignant end that she has written.

Kay Eiffel: ‘Because it's a book about a man who doesn't know he's about to die. And then dies. But if a man does know he's about to die and dies anyway. Dies- dies willingly, knowing that he could stop it, then- I mean, isn't that the type of man who you want to keep alive?’

Aside from the touching story, acting, depth of characters, amazing writing, graphics and music, another amazing aspect of this film is the imagery used, like Ana’s face lighting up under the lamplight when Harold presents her with bags of flour. Or a bright green apple rolling along the pavement, as Eifeel receives her unexplainable inspiration for Harold’s death. Or one of the final scenes, when Ana is lying with Harold and places a Bavarian sugar cookie in the shape of a heart over his own. Covered in casts, and severely injured, as Ana puts it, Harold rests in a hospital bed, and Ana draws a watch with a smiley face on his arm. The same time device that used to rule his life has now ironically saved him. And this is how the story ends.

“And, so it was, a wristwatch saved Harold Crick.”