Whiplash · written by Damien Chazelle · 2014

Andrew resumes playing at dawn, pushing through blistered, bleeding hands and rising metronome tempos.

Scene 41 of 117 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 39 min into a 1:54 film

The story so farBefore scene 41

A young jazz drummer pursues a place among the country’s best, pushing himself toward greatness under the control of a brilliant, abusive instructor.

Scenes 1–6
Andrew lives inside solitary practice, family movie nights, and an ideal of greatness learned from jazz legends.
Scenes 7–13
Shaffer's hierarchy makes Andrew doubt his prospects, while he wants a chance to become an exceptional drummer.
Scenes 14–17
Fletcher draws Andrew back from transferring, and Andrew enters Studio Band while beginning a relationship with Nicole.
Just before
Scene 38
Fletcher reaches his ordinary apartment building, his public authority gone from the quiet walk home.
Scene 39
Andrew sleeps beside his kit with the metronome still running.
Scene 40
Fletcher sets a solitary dinner beside family photographs.
Scene 41
This scene

41INT. ANDREW’S PRACTICE ROOM - MORNING

Andrew rises from the same mattress and slides onto his drum seat. Starts playing, hands dotted with blisters, eyes crusty with sand. The METRONOME still on...

...because it was never turned off.

CUT TO: Rides furiously, trying to beat his double-time swing... The METRONOME reading 380... His muscles exhausted...

CUT TO: The METRONOME adjusted up to 390... Blisters tearing...

CUT TO: 400.. Hands bleeding now, blood smearing the sticks...

CUT TO: 405... The METRONOME going crazy now... The DRUMMING so fast it’s a wash, a wall of sound, blood on the cymbal--