5. Nick Carraway's Psychiatrist
What the heck was up with this? Seriously. The movie opens with Caraway reading his iconic narrative as in the book. The movies shows us scenes from Carraway's past as he narrates, before cutting to show him in present day. Now, I understand there must have been some discussion as to Caraway's present day context, since in the book he's just the disembodied narrator and where he's located doesn't really matter. But really the solution was simple. Luhrmann could have easily just showed Caraway sitting in his study, writing down his memoirs. Instead Luhrman chooses to begin the movie with Caraway sitting in a psychiatrist's office, venting his problems to the shrink because of a lack of ability to express his thoughts. There's also a suggestion that Caraway may be depressed and a bit of an alcoholic, but there doesn't appear to be a reason for it. To make matters more redundant, the psychiatrist, in a later scene, suggests that Caraway write all the events down as a way to get over them. This he does, putting himself in the position he should have been in from the very beginning of the movie. The presence of the psychiatrist literally adds nothing. I suppose Luhrmann wanted to show that Caraway is emotionally scarred by this experience and needs a psychiatrist to help him recover. But really, why do we need that? Over the course of the movie we see first hand what Gatsby means to Caraway. We don't need a shoehorned therapist to tell us something we already understand visually. It's ironic that I'm critiquing Luhrmann's visuals, considering the rest of the movie is full of dazzling visual brillance that really brings the novel to life. So why couldn't he come up with something similarly visually intriguing to show Caraway's process of writing the memoirs? Perhaps pausing in frustration sometimes, stopping to get up until his next thought comes to him, maybe making himself a cup of coffee, pacing around the room with writer's block. Really simple stuff. Moreover, from a plot perspective the psychiatrist doesn't even make sense. Caraway is already an aspiring writer, so why does he need a shrink to tell him to write things down? He should have come to the conclusion on his own. Maybe Luhrmann intended the psychiatrist's prompting to create some sort of revelatory moment for Caraway where he's able to finally achieve his writer's passion. But that would have required some kind of build-up, and it doesn't come off that way at all (Carraway shrugging off Buchanan's claim that he's a writer doesn't count as build-up). Anyway, that would just be Luhrmann trying to improve on Fitzgerald, and that approach doesn't work unless it's something subtle, like the ending, which is accomplished visually, not through awkward plot movements. If Luhrmann did indeed want to show us that Carraway was finally fulfilling his desire to be a writer, he could have done it with a simple visual: A depressed Caraway stares out his window until he notices the reflection of his typewriter staring back at him. In a moment of revelation, he sits down and begins to write down everything. That would work, and it would be simple and visually interesting. In the grand scale of things this is a minor quibble, but the psychiatrist simply is not needed.