Water for Elephants
“Under the big top, love becomes the most dangerous act of all.”
Director
Francis Lawrence
Release
6 May 2011
Runtime
120 Minutes
Certificate
12A
Synopsis
Jacob Jankowski is preparing for a career as a veterinarian when devastating news abruptly changes his life. With little left to return to, he begins travelling and eventually jumps aboard a moving freight train. It belongs to a circus. The Benzini Brothers struggle to survive during the Great Depression, moving from town to town with performers, animals, and workers whose livelihoods depend on keeping the show on the road. Jacob's veterinary training quickly proves valuable, earning him a job caring for the circus animals. It also brings him into the orbit of Marlena, the show's talented equestrian star, and August, the man who controls both the circus and much of Marlena's life. Then Rosie arrives. The elephant initially appears impossible to train, threatening an investment the struggling circus desperately needs to succeed. Jacob eventually finds a way to communicate with her, and the breakthrough brings him and Marlena closer. Their growing feelings for one another put them both in danger. Because August isn't simply their employer. He's Marlena's husband. And as the circus continues along the rails, Jacob begins to realise that escaping August's control may prove considerably harder than joining the show ever was.
The Movie Trailer
Water for Elephants is a sweeping Depression-era romantic drama set inside the spectacular but unforgiving world of a travelling American circus.
Robert Pattinson stars as Jacob Jankowski, a veterinary student whose life is suddenly derailed by tragedy. With his future gone, Jacob leaves everything behind and jumps aboard a passing train, only to discover that he has accidentally joined the Benzini Brothers travelling circus.
His knowledge of animals earns him a place within the company, where he meets star performer Marlena, played by Reese Witherspoon, and her charismatic but volatile husband August, played by Christoph Waltz.
When the circus acquires an elephant named Rosie, Jacob's ability to understand the animal draws him closer to Marlena.
But inside August's circus, crossing the ringmaster can have dangerous consequences.
ALL ABOARD
Jacob Jankowski Runs Away and Finds the Circus
Jacob doesn't set out looking for a new life beneath the big top.
He simply climbs aboard a train.
That impulsive decision transports him into an extraordinary travelling community of performers, workers, and animals moving from one show to the next during the Great Depression.
For Jacob, the circus initially represents escape.
His veterinary training soon gives him something more valuable: a purpose.
But behind the spectacle is a far harsher world. Jobs can disappear overnight, money is scarce and August maintains control through a mixture of charm, intimidation and fear.
Jacob may have found somewhere to belong.
Whether he can survive there is another question.
JACOB & MARLENA
A Forbidden Romance Beneath the Big Top
Jacob's relationship with Marlena develops within circumstances that make their attraction increasingly dangerous.
Marlena is one of the circus's star performers, but her life is closely tied to August.
Jacob sees a different side of her while working with the animals, particularly after Rosie becomes central to the show's future.
Their shared compassion gradually draws them together.
For Jacob, Marlena represents the chance to build a new life after losing the one he expected to have.
For Marlena, Jacob represents something equally important: the possibility that another life exists beyond August and the circus he controls.
ROSIE
One Elephant Changes Everything
Rosie's arrival initially looks like another financial gamble for a circus desperately searching for its next major attraction.
August expects spectacular results.
Jacob sees an animal nobody has yet learned how to understand.
The breakthrough between Jacob and Rosie changes the fortunes of the show, but it also exposes the enormous difference between Jacob and August.
Where August attempts to establish control through force, Jacob relies on patience and understanding.
Rosie therefore becomes far more than another circus attraction.
She sits at the centre of the film's relationships, bringing Jacob and Marlena closer while intensifying the conflict that threatens all three of them.