What is White Noise about?

White Noise, based on Don DeLillo’s novel and starring Adam Driver as Jack Gladney, is a disaster film for pandemic times, telling the story of his family amid a chemical disaster in their town

When Don DeLillo’s popular novel White Noise was published in 1985, some thought that it could never be put to screen. And for more than 30 years, that belief rang true. But Noah Baumbach sought to test this theory with the limited release of the film adaptation this fall and wide release coming Dec. 30 to Netflix.

First featured at the Venice International Film Festival on Sept. 30, White Noise stars Adam Driver as Professor Jack Gladney, Greta Gerwig as Babette Gladney, Raffey Cassidy as Denise, André Benjamin as Elliot Lasher, Jodie Turner-Smith as Winnie Richards, and Don Cheadle as Professor Murray Siskind.

What is White Noise about?

Jack Gladney is a professor of Hitler Studies, a pioneer of the discipline, at the College-on-the-Hill. He is married to Babette, his fourth wife, and they share children from past partners. The two go about their somewhat monotonous lives.

But when a massive train crash releases a toxic substance into the atmosphere, everyone from their town is forced to evacuate and live out of shelter. After being exposed to the substance, the family is forced into quarantine.

Once the disaster is averted, life begins to return to normal. However, Babette begins to grow distant. Jack seeks to understand his wife’s issues while coming to grips with his own anxieties after the traumatic event. This all comes to a cataclysmic head at the end of the film, as the pair try to resolve their differences.

White Noise explores the themes of death, isolation, and death. While the film received some initial praise, it still remains to be seen whether a sufficient adaptation could ever be made.