Fairy Tale and Film

The Grifters
everyone is out to get 
each other. A mother, her son and his girlfriend make up a nasty trio 
of con- merchants bound by mutual avarice. Duplicity and depravity 
culminate in murder, estrangement and no one’s eventual gain. 
Shallow 
Grave
offers a similar condemnation of venality. A yuppie neo-noir in 
which three young professionals take in a new lodger, only to find 
him dead the next day, with a suitcase full of cash, the film charts the 
consequences when they opt to say nothing to the authorities and keep 
the money, subsequently descending into a mess of mutual suspicion 
and enmity. Interestingly, the female of the group, Juliet (Kerry Fox) – a 
doctor by profession – also proves to be the most callous, killing one 
accomplice outright, leaving the other impaled on the kitchen floor 
(having driven the knife in hard) and heading for the airport, only to 
find herself double-crossed, leaving her with nothing. A repeat down-
ward shot of the stairs at their apartment provides us with a neat visual 
metaphor of their declining friendship. If the trio began the film filled 
with arrogant conceit (believing no one is good enough to join their 
household) they get their comeuppance in the end, their folly not in 
how deep they buried the body, nor in how honest they are with the 
authorities, but in how they subsequently treat each other. 
Waking Ned 
(Kirk Jones, 1998) provides a heartwarming variant on this scenario. 
A remote Irish community opt to conceal the body of an elderly resi-
dent who dies from a heart attack when he wins the lottery. The crucial 
difference lies in the fact that they agree to share the winnings – and 
manage to avoid homicide! As we know from countless other examples, 
however, for the most part human nature is not so altruistic, and the 
promise of instant riches comes at a terrible cost.
A Simple Plan
serves as a moving morality tale. Based on the bestsell-
ing novel by Scott B. Smith, who also wrote the screenplay, the result 
is a thriller whose power lies in the sheer simplicity of its narrative 
and the believability of its performances. The film opens with a voice-
over from the main character, Hank (Bill Paxton), remembering advice 
his father once gave him about happiness: stating that a loving wife, 
and good friends and family, are all that a man needs. As our narrator 
recalls, he once had these, and we know the tale he’s about to tell will 
be a bitter one. Set in wintry woods – replete with fairy tale resonance – 
two brothers and a friend find a downed plane, with a dead pilot and 
4 million dollars on board. ‘It’s the American Dream in a gym bag!’ one 
declares. Hank admonishes him, ‘you work for the American Dream, 
you don’t steal it’, and says they should declare their discovery to the 

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86 
Fairy Tale and Film
authorities. However, he is soon won over when reminded that his wife 
is due to give birth to their first child – and urged to consider how the 
money could help. Vowing to share the riches, yet agreeing to wait until 
spring, Hank elects to keep the bag at his house. Therein lies what seems 
to be a simple plan yet one that serves as the catalyst for a spiralling 
descent in their relations. Hank’s simple-minded brother, Jacob (Billy 
Bob Thornton), expresses bitterness about the relative good fortune 
Hank has had in life, including a college education that was denied to 
him, and his blue-collar buddy Lou (Brent Briscoe) is equally resentful, 
accusing Hank of having airs and graces. These class divisions affirm 
an interesting point. Like the wealthy brother in ‘Ali Baba’, Hank is 
dissatisfied with what he has, despite his relative affluence, and loyalty 
to his brother proves all too tenuous. The money brings their petty 
differences to breaking point, unmasking a degree of ruthlessness and 
suspicion in each.
Perhaps the most shocking transformation is Hank’s pregnant wife 
Sarah (Bridget Fonda), who initially seems to be the most virtuous char-
acter yet proves to be highly calculating. Upon first hearing about the 
money she states that they have everything they need and that keeping 
it would be theft, yet is delighted when she sees it and soon gets crafty, 
manipulating her husband into increasingly mercenary behaviour. Her 
initial advice is to go back to the plane and return some of the money, 
thinking this will fool any authorities that find it. Hank complies, but 
ignores her advice to say nothing to his brother, taking Jacob as a look-
out. So begins a tragic turn of events. An old man, Dwight Stevenson, 
tracking a fox in the vicinity, is killed by the panicking Jacob. The crime 
is successfully covered up as a skidoo accident, yet Jacob tells Lou about 
Stevenson’s death, exposing a dangerous rift between the trio. Hereafter, 
the saintly seeming Sarah proves to be an arch schemer. Discovering 
the $4 million is a kidnapped heiress’s ransom money, she argues that 
it is now rightfully theirs and plots to frame Lou for Stevenson’s death. 
Transformed beyond recognition, she coldly advises her husband about 
their next step as she breastfeeds their newborn in hospital. The money 
now means everything to her and she asks Hank if he really wants to 
scrape a living for their family and see her bored to death with her job 
at the library. As ever, he complies, yet Sarah’s suggestion goes horribly 
wrong when Lou realises he is being set up and both he and his wife 
are killed by the brothers. The local policeman, a good friend to Hank, 
believes the story he tells of a drunken tragedy between the couple 
and again we think they have got away with murder. However, lest we 
assume that their blood bond will at least strengthen their ties, further 

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