Celebrating 35 years of Thelma and Louise: Exploring the Film’s Screenplay Structure and Themes.

Scroll down for a breakdown of the film's five plot points and five acts!

This year, Cannes paid tribute to a movie which premiered at the Film Festival 35 years ago: Thelma & Louise. It was written by Callie Khouri, who won an Oscar for best original screenplay for the script in 1992.

Watching the movie when it was first released was mind-blowing. I had never seen anything it like it. For a Hollywood film to have only women in the lead roles in the 80s and early 90s was unusual–but not unheard of. But the release of a film about a weekend road trip that turns a couple of female-buddies into fugitives from the law felt like a seismic cultural shift.

The good news & the bad news: the film is still relevant today.

The film still has the narrative power and cinematic mastery to make an impact. Seeing it again recently on the big screen was a moving and subversive watch. Sadly, the themes are also just as relevant today as when the film first came out, highlighting as it does controlling & psychologically abusive relationships as well as male violence against women.

Played by Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, the main characters have agency. They are multidimension, relatable, and very funny. The narrative choices they make through the film upended audience expectations of the time of how female characters were supposed to behave. As the women’s choices run out, their actions reveal an increasing level of “fuck the patriarchy” energy.

This is a feminist film, a battle cry against the patriarchy. But it’s also fun.

 

Not everyone loved that ending.

(Spoilers Ahead)

It was a controversial ending for a Hollywood film at the time. There was criticism that it glamorized suicide. Director Ridley Scott had in mind alternative endings for the film, one of them being that Louise pushes Thelma out of the car before driving over the edge. However, the actresses would have none of it, and neither would the film’s screenwriter.

35 years on, it seems impossible to imagine another ending for this film. The final frame captures one moment frozen in time of the women driving over a cliff, their Thunderbird seemingly flying over the Grand Canyon, liberated at last.

Screenplay structure: 5 acts & 5 plot points of Thelma & Louise

This is not a simple revenge story. And it’s not just that the characters are forced, through circumstances beyond their control, to do very bad things. Thelma, in particular, starts to enjoy those bad things because of the freedom from social norms these actions afford them.

As character arcs go, Thelma is the one who undergoes the more dramatic change.

Breaking down the film into five acts, it’s clear that Thelma’s character progression from hopeless housewife (who can’t even bring herself to ask her husband’s permission to go away for the weekend) to ice-chill armed robber, provides the impetus for some of the key plot points.

Let’s break down the structure of the film:

Act 1

This sets up Thelma and Louis as characters. Their weekend road trip away promises some respite for both and the respective life constraints they have to deal with. Tellingly, Thelma leaves without being able to ask her husband for permission to go away.

1. Plot Point: The inciting incident

The women stop at a roadside bar along the way for a drink. Things get out of hand when the man who has latched onto Thelma takes advantage of her drunken state and tries to s€xually assault her in the car park. Louise arrives on the scene with a gun and kills Thelma’s attacker.

End of Act 1 / Start of Act 2

2. Plot Point: Point of No Return

In a state of shock, the women discuss what they should do. Confident that the law will not believe their version of events concerning the shooting, they decide their best course of action is to go on the run.

Act 3

Louise’s boyfriend delivers much-needed cash from her account. Thelma’s insisted they pick up a sexy young hitchhiker, JD. She sleeps with him, but he disappears the next morning–with all their money. Louise, the strong one up until now, is broken. Meanwhile, both the cops and the FBI are on their tail.

3. Plot Point: The Midpoint

Thelma steps up to the plate. This is her moment and she assures Louise she’s going to fix things. She takes over the wheel of the Thunderbird and drives on. At their next stop, with no prior warning, she robs the gas station. Her short time with JD has given her skills.

End of Act 3 / Start of Act 4

4. Plot Point: Major Setback

The women lean into their roles as fugitives. They terrorize a sexist truck driver and blow up his rig.

The detective on the case (Hal, played by Harvey Keitel) is sympathetic to the women’s plight. But, during a phone call with Louise, Hal tells her that they’re now facing a murder charge. Thelma and Louise agree not to surrender, come what may.

Act 5

5. Plot Point: The Final Climax

A final dramatic police chase forces Thelma and Louise to stop at the edge of a cliff at the Grand Canyon. Hal appears from a helicopter. There’s only one way out. Neither woman hesitates. This is the only option they have to be truly free. They drive on, over the cliff.

The film has earned its place as one of the classics of 20^th century cinema.

Story Inkubator was founded by writer, scriptwriter and teacher, Kristina Jilly, an Australian living in Central Europe who's written for HBO Europe and RTL Television. She has an M.A. in Screenwriting and teaches at the University of Applied Sciences in Austria. Kristina also writes online content about the art of storytelling and topics that inspire creativity. 

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