Panic Room story
Panic Room is a 2002 American thriller film directed by David Fincher. The film stars Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart as a mother and daughter whose new home is invaded by burglars, played by Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto, and Dwight Yoakam. The script was written by David Koepp, whose screenplay was inspired by news coverage in 2000 about panic rooms.
17 total · 7 major · 10 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| burglary | major | A trio of criminals plotted to steal a fortune in U.S. bonds from a secret safe in what they thought to be an empty condo. However, the condo having been recently moved into by a mother and her young daughter, complicated their heist to no end. |
| compassion | major | Burnham was the only one of the three burglars with anything resembling a conscience. He urged his two accomplices to take the carrot approach to get Meg and Sarah to leave the "panic room" on multiple occasions. He also took pity on Sarah in the midst of her medical crisis, and gave her a life saving insulin injection. In the end, Burnham risked capture by going back to the condo to save the family from the wrath of his sadistic accomplice. |
| facing a home invader | major | Med and Sarah were terrorized in their new condo by a trio of burglars. They would have stood no chance had it not been for the fortunate presence of a secret room, specially designed to be invulnerable to attack. |
| fear | major | Meg and Sarah were in mortal fear of the home invaders. Their only chance was to stay hunkered down in a secret room, specially designed to be invulnerable to attack. |
| greed for riches | major | Three burglars were lusting to make it away from the condo with the fortune in U.S. bonds that lay hidden there in a secret room. Their not being content to divide up the fortune equally led to mistrust and infighting that ultimately doomed their enterprise. |
| human childhood | major | The story explores family breakdown from the adolescent girl Sarah's point of view. Sarah was resentful toward her father over the divorce, and felt abandoned by him. Sarah also pointedly held herself together in the face of a home invasion by a trio of burglars. |
| mother and daughter | major | The story follows a recently divorced mother, Meg, and her adolescent daughter, Sarah, as they attempt to wait out a trio of home invaders in a secret room, specially designed to be invulnerable to attack. |
| claustrophobia | minor | After some time in the panic room, Meg reassured Sarah that she was okay being in such a confined space. They subsequently conversed on the subject of premature burial. |
| divorce | minor | Meg and her adolescent daughter, Sarah, were adjusting to life in the immediate wake of Meg's divorce. Specifically, the pair were spending their first night in a new condo. |
| father and daughter | minor | Stephen went to the condo after receiving a desperate call for help from his ex-wife, Meg. Once on the scene, he urged Meg and his daughter, Sarah, to stay locked in the titular "panic room", even if it meant he suffered further physical harm at the hands of the burglars. |