June 16, 2001 (SIFF)
July 20, 2001 (United States)
October 18, 2001 (Germany)
November 16, 2001 (United Kingdom)
Ghost World is a 2001 black comedy film co-written and directed by Terry Zwigoff. Based on the 1990s comic book of the same name by Daniel Clowes, the story focuses on the lives of teenage outsiders Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson), who face a rift in their friendship as Enid takes an interest in an older man named Seymour (Steve Buscemi), and becomes determined to help his romantic life.
Ghost World debuted at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2001. It had little box office impact but received critical acclaim. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and has become a cult film.
Storyline
Best friends Enid and Rebecca face the summer after their high school graduation, with no plans for their future, other than to find jobs and live together. The girls are cynical social outcasts, but Rebecca is more popular with boys than Enid. Enid's diploma is withheld on the condition that she attend a remedial art class. Even though she is a talented artist, her art teacher, Roberta, believes that art must be socially meaningful and dismisses Enid's sketches as nothing more than "light entertainment".
The girls see a personal ad in which a lonely, middle-aged man named Seymour asks a woman he met recently to contact him. Enid makes a prank phone call to Seymour, pretending to be the woman and inviting him to meet her at a diner. The two girls and their friend, Josh, secretly watch Seymour at the diner and make fun of him. Enid soon begins to feel sympathy for Seymour, and they follow him to his apartment building. They later find him selling vintage records in a garage sale. Enid buys an old blues album from him, and they become friends. Around this time, Enid meets an old man named Norman who continually waits at an out-of-service bus stop for a bus that will never come.
She decides to try to find women for him to date. At Enid's art class, she persuades Seymour to lend her an old poster depicting a grotesquely caricatured black man, which was once used as a promotional tool by Coon Chicken Inn, the fried chicken franchise now known as Cook's Chicken, where Seymour works in corporate. Enid presents the poster in class as a social comment about racism, and Roberta is so impressed with the concept that she offers Enid a scholarship to an art college.
Seymour receives a phone call from Dana, the intended recipient of his personal ad. Enid encourages him to pursue a relationship with Dana, but she becomes unexpectedly jealous when he does so. Enid's and Rebecca's lives start to diverge. While Enid has been spending time with Seymour, Rebecca starts working at a coffee shop. Enid gets a job at a movie theater, so she can afford to rent an apartment with Rebecca, but her cynical attitude and reluctance to upsell concessions get her fired on her first day. The girls argue, and Rebecca abandons the idea of living with Enid.
When Enid's poster is displayed in an art show, school officials find it so offensive they force Roberta to give her a failing grade and revoke the scholarship. Enid turns to Seymour for solace, resulting in a drunken one-night stand. Seymour breaks up with Dana and is fired from his job when the Coon Chicken poster is publicized in a local newspaper. He unsuccessfully tries to contact Enid, only for Rebecca to tell him about Enid's prank phone call, describing the way they mocked him at the diner. Seymour, thinking that Enid is dating Josh, angrily goes to the convenience store where he works. Another customer ends up in a violent confrontation with Seymour, resulting in him being injured and hospitalized.
Enid visits Seymour in the hospital to apologize, and later reconciles with Rebecca. As Enid watches from across the street, Norman boards an out-of-service bus. The next day, Seymour, now living with his mother, discusses the summer's events with his therapist and attempts to get a fresh start. Meanwhile, Enid returns to the bus stop and boards the out-of-service bus when it arrives, giving in to her childhood fantasy of running away from home and disappearing.
A post-credits scene shows an alternate version of Seymour's scene in the convenience store, in which he wins the fight and is not injured.
Movie Trailer
- Ghost World (2001) (Trailers)