“Our Time Is Up” is a short film made in 2006. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 2006-2006. This film depicts several days in the life of a successful psychiatrist, Leonard Stern. However, he finds a new way to communicate with his patients after receiving unexpected news. Thus, there are five plot elements: exposition, provocative event, ascending action, climax, and falling action.
At the beginning of the film, some actions are an exposition. The exposition is a reference material required for the spectator or reader to figure out the rest of the story (Pérez & Ortiz, 2021). The production of the film shows the usual morning of Dr. Stern’s life. Every day he wakes up at 7.00, picks up clothes, brews coffee, takes a newspaper, reads, drinks coffee, and begins his seances with patients (V., 2010). The movie’s further scenes describe these conversations. The interviews are related to the doctor’s general dispassionate phrases, and the question “Why do you think this is so?” sounds twice, although about different clients (V., 2010). The presented scenes correspond with the function and pattern of the exposition as they enter the film’s setting and main characters.
The event that triggers the key conflict occurs when Dr. Stern receives a call from Dr. Williams, who was aware of the CT scan outcomes: he has only one and a half months to live. The inflammatory event is reinforced by the further scenes, emphasizing that the telephone call was a “pivotal moment” in Dr. Stern’s life: he did not awake when the alarm was on, did not brew coffee, and did not take the paper as usual, but only sat helplessly on the floor (Pérez & Ortiz, 2021). The provoking moment means that from this moment, the main character’s life will change dramatically, and everything will never be the same as before (V., 2010). Thus, the results are provoking because the doctor reconsiders his attitude to life and the people after it.
The escalating action occurs in the movie from the moment of incitement to the climax, providing a gradual intensity in the plot (Pérez & Ortiz, 2021). After Dr. Stern gets a phone call, he resolves to tell his sufferer the authenticity of their issues or face them head-to with their frights. For example, Patient No. 8 is scared of the dark. Therefore, the doc switches off the lights and so forth (V., 2010). Thus, the increasing effect is to change Dr. Stern’s behavior.
Next in the film is the moment of climax, when patients come to him with thanks. When patient #1 came home to Dr. Stern the other day, the doctor was pictured wearing a bathrobe and watching TV. Patient No. 1, angry that the doctor indicated his low self-esteem, said “thank you” and hugged the doctor (Pearlstein, 2004). This scene is also the proper time of the film, the moment of the highest tension when all the questions must be answered, which is defined as the film’s climax (Pérez & Ortiz, 2021). The part of the film that follows the finish is defined as “falling action” (Pérez & Ortiz, 2021). In the movie “Our Time is Up” the falling action is represented in scenes commencing with the sufferers expressing gratitude to the physician and ending with Leonard agreeing to give a professional recommendation to a youthful doctor who needs Stern to educate him on “the best way to treat patients” (V., 2010). At this point, the film ends.
All five plot elements are included in this Oscar-nominated film. There is also an exposition where the audience gets acquainted with the life and character of the main character. An inciting event in which Dr. Stern learns that he has six weeks left to live. Then a growing action, where the main character changes his behavior and tells the truth to patients. Then, there is the climax, where all the patients thank him. Moreover, the film ends with a falling action, where he is called and asked to teach his new communication technique to patients.
References
Pérez, H. J., & Ortiz, M. J. (2021). Multi-plot structure in television serials. Cognition, Emotion, and Aesthetics in Contemporary Serial Television, 47-67. Web.
V. (2010). Our time is up [Video]. Youtube. Web.