The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: In the Bedroom

written by Robert Festinger and Todd Field

(based on a single theater viewing)


Revised structure after more careful viewing.

In the Bedroom is a first rate drama about a married couple having to cope with the murder of their son. It has an unusual first act but solid 3-act structure.

Structural Analysis

  1. Hook
    • A son is the lover of an older woman with kids who is separated from her husband.
  2. Complication
    • The parents disapprove of the relationship, and the husband wants his wife back.
  3. Call to Action
    • Both husband and wife (father and mother to the son) try to get him to break up with the woman.
  4. Act One Plot Point
    • In a fit of rage, the estranged husband murders the son. He is arrested. The "extraordinary world" becomes the parents trying to cope without their son.
  5. Midpoint Plot Point
    • After a verbal brawl in which each blames the other for what happened, the parents get closer and share feelings for the first time. The killer is out awaiting trial and the wife keeps running into him.
  6. Act Two Plot Point
    • The husband can't stand this situation of the killer being loose, especially with the wife always seeing him. This situation has to change, he tells a friend.
  7. Climax and Resolution
    • The husband, with help of his friend, kills and buries the murderer of his son. He gets away with it. The wife is pleased. Life goes on.

Notes

In the Bedroom builds slowly, powerfully. In the first act, it seems as if the son might be the protagonist. The first act plot point is shocking and twists the story into its true focus, the reaction of the parents and the health of their marriage. They save their marriage by murdering the son's killer.


MODULE 4: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting

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