Howard has a loving wife, two daughters, a prestigious job as a Manhattan lawyer, and a comfortable home in the suburbs. But inwardly he's suffocating, and eventually he snaps and goes into hiding in his garage attic leaving his family to wonder what happened to him. He observes them from his window - an outsider spying in on his own life - as the days of exile stretch into months. Is it possible to go back to the way things were?






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Discussion Questions

1. What do you think is the real reason Wakefield began his garage loft exile?
   
   
2. What if anything in the film made you uncomfortable? Why was that?
   
   
3. In what way is Wakefield a possible unreliable narrator?
   
   
4. How does Wakefield’s interaction with the neighbour kids change his perceptions?
   
   
5. What is the symbolism behind his name?
   
   
6. Apply this quote to Wakefield’s predicament: “Man staggers through life yapped by his reason, pulled and shoved by his appetites, whispered to by his fears, beckoned by his hopes, small wonder that what he craves most is self-forgetting.” - E.B. White
   
   
7. What do you think occurs after the film’s end? Does Diana take him back? Will life be different or the same if he stays?
   
   
8. Does Howard change? How do you know?
   
   
9. How much ‘self-forgetfulness’ is too much?
   
   
10. What Scriptural or Wisdom story does this film remind you of?
    
    
11. Have you ever had an exile from your normal routine that shook you? What happened? What did you learn?