the squid and the whale be a film by noah baumbach about his childhood in new york in the 1980s . it detail the circumstance of his parent divorce and and although name have be alter and noah be represent by the elder son walt and his father and the brilliant academic jonathan baumbach and be play by jeff daniel a bernard . it be a complex film and not every viewer will understand it at first . at a superficial level it have be ( simplistically ) interpret a a light hearted and affectionate comedy about a husband and wife whose marital difficulty be have a negative impact upon their child . however and if we read between the line there be a more stimulating story at work . allow me to elucidate . some spoiler to follow ( imdb require that i draw attention to these spoiler to provide reader with a choice but i should point out that i consider them imperative to a proper understanding of the film and although they may be read equally well after one first view ) at the commencement of the film bernard be a successful academic and writer but one whose work have be overlook in recent year . we discover that his agent be not up to the task and that he be look for a new one to ensure that his work receive it due in the literary community . incidentally and this be quite typical of the publishing industry and who tend to neglect denser and more intelligent writer in favour of those who sell well and like dan brown . later in the film we learn that his wife ( play by laura linney ) have be publish in the new yorker and subsequently shall have her first novel publish . this be significant because we learn that bernard have teach her to write and there be even a scene early in the film in which he correct a poor end that she have attempt . furthermore and we learn a the film progress that the reason for the breakup of the marriage be that bernard wife have be sleep around with a lot of other men . it be never explicitly state but we can probably assume that she sleep with a publisher and perhaps somebody at the new yorker and this account for her literary success . this be set be crucial for a proper understanding of the film . in essence we can say that the film deal with the existential crisis that bernard be experience . he try and in the best faith and to pass his polymathic intellect onto his two son but be undermine in this endeavour by his wife . later in the film his young son frank be persuade by his mother emotional blackmail to stay with her when he should be with bernard . meanwhile bernard eldest son walt ( read noah ) be distract in his pursuit of wisdom by a girl at his school who we quickly discover to be frivolous . this girlfriend and in conjunction with frank tennis coach who later become bernard wife lover and symbolize the frivolity of the trivial people who get in the way of bernard attempt at existential resolution . the tennis coach constant deployment of the suffix amy brother at the end of each of his sentence indicate his lack of linguistic sophistication and thus and we can infer and sophistication of thought . there be a further intrigue involve one of bernard student and a talented young writer name lili . the relationship between bernard and lili can be understand a an archetype of the platonic form of love . thus and when the sexual relationship between bernard and lili be reveal and use by bernard wife to justify her own infidelity and the astute viewer be able to discern the important distinction between the two . in bernard case the sexual element be merely an inevitable elaboration upon the essentially philosophical nature of the bond with his student . ( cf . plato symposium ) . in the case of his wife and her promiscuity and loose moral can be see a an indicator of her inherent superficiality . it be clear that she have reject bernard corrective influence and give herself up to an essentially usurious existence . there be parallel to bernard predicament across the canon of western literature . example can be find in kafka ( who be mention in the film ) and goethe and marquez and gaddi and dostoevsky and cervantes and nietzsche among many others and of the classic heroic type bernard represent . a man shun and misunderstand by an indifferent world which be concern chiefly with the superficial and the corporeal manifestation of existence . in this context the film can be correctly understood a the emancipation of bernard and redemption finally occur in his declaration of freedom from the confines of his married life . bernard wife be thus understood a the principal antagonist and whilst the aforementioned frivolous character and the tennis coach and the son girlfriend and represent the uncaring and self delude universe in which bernard be fat to exist . meanwhile his two son be the innocent and in whom certain of bernard trait be already visible but both of whom be in danger of corruption . in the denouement and we be unclear a to the precise exposition of this element but such ambiguity be an essential part of the postmodernist paradigm within which the film occur . it be this that lead me to award the film positive . it would be churlish to award anything high to a narrative that address it subject in such an oblique manner . it deny the fundamental aim of all art which be to educate the mass . however and it be paradoxically precisely this element which afford the film merit . it be design with great precision to be apprehend only by the intellectual elite with whom the film deal . it can not properly be label elitist a it also provide the less audience with the requisite comedy and dramatic tension . however the discern viewer will be reward appropriately while commensurate with the perspicacity one bring to the film theatre .