She retrieves Jim's keys from the bowl and returns them to him. The other key party participants pair off and leave, until only Jim and Elena remain. Meanwhile, a winter storm begins to descend upon the neighborhood. After being helped up, he retreats to the bathroom to sober up, remaining there for the rest of the evening. When Janey chooses the keys of a younger man, a drunken Ben becomes agitated and trips on the floor. It turns out to be a ' key party', in which married couples 'swap' sexual partners by means of each woman selecting a set of keys from a bowl contributed by each man.īen drinks increasingly as the party progresses. Despite the tension between them, the couple go ahead with plans to attend a neighborhood party. On the Friday night after Thanksgiving, the Hoods have an argument when Elena realizes her husband is having an affair with Janey. Janey reasons she can’t put the tasks and errands of her own family on hold for him. When Janey does not show for a tryst one day, Ben accuses her of losing interest in the affair. Mikey Carver is thought of as odd and withdrawn by Ben, while the younger Sandy experiments with dangerous objects like toy explosives.

Paul Hood has fallen for Libbets Casey, a classmate at the boarding school he attends, though his roommate Francis is also interested in her. Young Wendy Hood enjoys sexual games with the Carver boys and with her school peers. His wife, Elena, is also bored with her life and looking to bring some excitement back, but is unsure how to do so. Ben is having an affair with Janey to deal with his midlife dissatisfaction. The other family, Jim and Janey Carver and their sons Mikey and Sandy, are the Hoods’ neighbors and friends. Ben is dissatisfied with his marriage and his career. One family, the Hoods, consists of parents Ben and Elena and their children, Paul and Wendy. In 1973, two families in an affluent Connecticut suburb experiment with adultery and substance abuse over one Thanksgiving weekend. Schamus received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay, and Weaver won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Critical response to the film was positive, and it was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. Its limited release ultimately grossed US$8 million on a budget of US$18 million. The film opened in the United States on September 27, 1997. Set during Thanksgiving 1973, The Ice Storm is about two dysfunctional New Canaan, Connecticut, upper-class families who are trying to deal with tumultuous social changes of the early 1970s, and their escapism through alcohol, adultery, and sexual experimentation. The film features an ensemble cast of Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, Katie Holmes, Glenn Fitzgerald, Jamey Sheridan, and Sigourney Weaver.

The Ice Storm is a 1997 American drama film directed by Ang Lee, based on Rick Moody's 1994 novel of the same name.

The Ice Storm by Rick Moody