My secret dream – in addition to finding a job where I can get paid to read all day – is to become a writer. And, if we really want to dream big, maybe be famous and appreciated by readers from all over the world. Just like Paul Sheldon, the protagonist of Stephen King
‘s psychological thriller ” Misery ” (1987). Paul is a successful writer: he is the creator of the successful series “Misery”, starring Misery Chastain, much loved by the general public. But if you find yourself in a Stephen King novel, surely something unpleasant is about to happen to you, even if you are famous. In this case, just because you are.
Paul, in fact, is the victim of an accident in the mountains of Silver Creek (Colorado) and is saved by Annie Wilkes, a nurse who lives in an isolated cabin. The woman takes care of the writer and reveals that she is his number one fan. On the surface Annie seems loving and enthusiastic to have her favorite writer in her care, and Paul is also grateful to her for saving him after the accident.
But Paul soon realizes that she hasn’t warned anyone about his accident and no one knows where she is. Paul also understands that Annie is mentally unstable and suffers from mental disorders and exhibits frequent mood swings. The man is immobilized in bed, due to his injuries, and begins to realize that he is a prisoner of this madwoman.
The situation worsens when Annie discovers that in the latest novel Paul kills Misery. For the disturbed Annie this is too much: her favorite heroine, who seems to be almost a real person to whom she is attached, cannot die. And she forces Paul to rewrite the book with a happy ending.
Paul decides to go along with Annie to keep her at bay, starting to write an alternative novel, but also tries in every way to find a way out of the room in which he is segregated.
Annie, who on the one hand proves pleased with Paul’s commitment to writing a new story of Misery, she notices the man’s attempts to escape and, for this, subjects him to immense torture, up to amputating his foot with a ‘ax.
Finally, one day, a policeman who is investigating the disappearance of the writer knocks on Annie’s door, but he is brutally killed by the woman. Paul however does not give up and devises a plan to kill the tormentor: finished the manuscript with the happy ending for Misery, he shows it to the greedy Annie, who is already looking forward to the moment of reading, but Paul burns it in front of her eyes. Crazed with rage, Annie throws herself on her papers to save them from the fire and Paul takes the opportunity to throw the typewriter at her.
Obviously Annie has a tough skin and doesn’t die immediately. After a grueling struggle, the sadistic nurse finally finds her death by falling tumbling to the ground.
Pual, after this nightmare, will never be the same: Annie will continue to haunt him in his thoughts, but finds the inspiration to write.
In the original version of the project, Paul’s character would have to die and the sadistic Annie would have bound the manuscript with the writer’s skin. However, as the story came to life, the unexpected evolution of the characters led King in the direction of the happy ending.
Misery is adapted for the big screen with the film Misery Must Not Die (1990) by director Rob Reiner. Actress Kathy Bates, who plays Annie, was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and a Golden Globe Award for her perfect performance as the Insane Killer Nurse.
In addition, the American Film Institute included the character of Annie Wilkes in the ranking of the fifty best villains in American cinema (seventeenth place).
Between the novel and the film there are some differences (for example in the film Annie breaks both legs of Paul, instead of cutting off his foot) but both are successful. Stephen King’s book is an excellent psychological and introspective thriller (written during a rather problematic period of the author) and Rob Reiner’s film well constructs the two protagonists and the growing anguish and suspension that emerge from the pages of the novel. Valentina Morlacchi
