Shutter Island
Movie, 2010, The 2010s, Set in Ashecliffe Hospital, 1954
Shutter Island is #21 of 26 in release order and #21 of 26 in chronological order in the Martin Scorsese.
The story
World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.
Shutter Island recap
Shutter Island (2010) follows Teddy Daniels, a federal marshal hunting a missing patient at an island asylum in Boston Harbor in 1954. Martin Scorsese directs from Laeta Kalogridis's adaptation of Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Teddy, Mark Ruffalo plays his partner Chuck Aule, Ben Kingsley plays the chief psychiatrist Dr. John Cawley, Max von Sydow plays Dr. Naehring, and Michelle Williams plays Teddy's dead wife Dolores. The missing woman, Rachel Solando, drowned her three children. Teddy suffers migraines and visions of liberating Dachau and of Dolores, killed in a fire set by a man named Andrew Laeddis, whom he believes is held on the island. A patient in Ward C warns him that they perform experiments in the lighthouse, and a woman hiding in a cave says the doctors will drug him. When Chuck vanishes, Teddy forces his way into the lighthouse. Scorsese made it after The Departed and before Hugo, and is his fourth film with DiCaprio.
Shutter Island ending explained
Shutter Island ends with the reveal that Teddy is Andrew Laeddis, a patient who shot his wife after she drowned their children, and the investigation was staged to break his delusion. Chuck is his psychiatrist, Dr. Sheehan. Andrew seems to accept the truth, but the next morning he calls Sheehan "Chuck" again, and Cawley orders a lobotomy. Before the orderlies take him, Andrew asks whether it would be worse to live as a monster or die as a good man, suggesting he may be choosing his fate.
Post-credits scenes
No. Shutter Island has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch Shutter Island
Shutter Island is streaming on fuboTV, Paramount+, Kanopy, and YouTube (free) in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 8.2/10, Rotten Tomatoes 69%
Where it fits
- Release order: after The Departed, before Hugo.
- Chronological order: after The Departed, before Hugo.
Cast
- Leonardo DiCaprio as Teddy Daniels
- Mark Ruffalo as Chuck Aule
- Ben Kingsley as Dr. Cawley
- Max von Sydow as Dr. Naehring
- Michelle Williams as Dolores
- Emily Mortimer as Rachel 1
- Patricia Clarkson as Rachel 2
- Jackie Earle Haley as George Noyce
- Ted Levine as Warden
- John Carroll Lynch as Deputy Warden McPherson
- Elias Koteas as Laeddis
- Robin Bartlett as Bridget Kearns
Directed by Martin Scorsese.