The Fabelmans (2022) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Watch his first movie

Sammy doesn't want to go into the theatre because it is dark and the people on the screen are gigantic. His parents, Burt and Mitzi, take turns trying to ease his worries, revealing a lot about their personalities with their different approaches. Burt, an engineer, takes a technical approach, explaining how a film reel is made up of 24 photos projected each second to fool the brain into thinking that static pictures are moving. Mitzi, a pianist, takes a more artistic approach. "Movies are dreams, doll, that you never forget," she explains. "You just wait and see, when it's over, you're gonna have the biggest sloppiest smile on your face."

They watch "The Greatest Show On Earth" and Sammy is entranced by the train crash sequence. He gets a train set for Hanukkah, and recreates the crash repeatedly. When Mitzi realizes that Sammy is trying to get some kind of control over the scary sequence, she gives him Burt's movie camera and suggests that he film the crash. "Only crash the train once, okay?" she says. "Then after we get the film developed, you can watch it crash over and over 'til it's not so scary anymore. And your real train won't ever get broken." Sammy films the crash and screens the movie for a delighted Mitzi in his bedroom closet, and begins recruiting his sisters into recreating classic horror movies. He's hooked.

Answer: That Burt didn't get a job for his best friend, Bennie

Burt's colleague from RCA spends so much time with the Fabelmans that the children all call him Uncle Bennie, which irks Hadassah, Burt's mom. "He's not related. He's only always here because he works for my son," she tells the girls. Burt corrects his mother. "He's only always here because he's my best friend," he says.

General Electric offers Burt a job in Phoenix, and the children are all excited about the move. "Is Uncle Bennie coming too?" Reggie asks. Burt explains that Bennie lives here and that he will miss him too. Later, Mitzi and Burt get into an argument over this. "They only just hired me, I've got no pull there yet. I can't ask General Electric to hire somebody else on my say-so, that's not how it works," Burt says. "Don't ask them, do it yourself. They're hiring you to manage. Managers hire. Hire Bennie," Mitzi replies. Burt explains that staying behind will be good for Bennie, as he can get out from under his shadow and make a name for himself at RCA. "He needs you," Mitzi says. "You're gonna leave him behind with just a shrug? See you later? Once we're gone, who'll he have left in New Jersey? You have an opportunity to help your best friend. Honestly, wake up!" Burt manages to secure a job for Bennie, who moves out to Phoenix with them.

Answer: His mother's sheet music

Sammy is trying to get the Boy Scout merit badge for photography, and gets together with his friends to make a Western. He assembles the footage and screens it on his closet wall. The climactic shootout between a group of bandits and the sheriff plays particularly flat as it is obvious that all the guns are toys. "Totally fake," he says to himself, disappointed.

Later, the whole family (and Bennie) gather to hear Mitzi play Beethoven's "Piano Sonata No.1 in F Minor, Op. 2" in preparation for her appearance on television, but everyone is distracted by the sounds her long fingernails make on the piano keys. Burt and Bennie take matters into their own hands and playfully threaten Mitzi with a pair of nail clippers, wrestling her into a chair in the process. Mitzi's sheet music gets knocked to the floor in the kerfuffle, and she notices a page skewered at the end of her high heel. She tosses it aside and resolves to play the piece from memory. Sammy picks up the sheet music and looks at the light streaming through the hole, an idea forming in his head.

Sammy screens the movie for his Boy Scout troop with his parents in attendance. The film plays without any dialogue to Elmer Bernstein's score for "The Magnificent Seven". The shootout at the end of the film is transformed by the music, and when the players fire their guns a bright light flashes at the end of the barrel. The audience is amazed. Sammy rides home with Burt after the screening. "How'd you make it look like the guns were really firing?" Burt asks. "I poked holes in the film with pins," Sammy explains. Burt is impressed. "Thinking like an engineer!" he says with pride.

Answer: The family camping trip

The Fabelmans (and Bennie) go camping in the Coconino National Forest. It's a magical time, and on the last night Mitzi treats everyone to an impromptu dance performance in front of the campfire. As usual, Sammy documents everything with his camera.

Mitzi's mother, Tina, passes away a few weeks later and Mitzi falls into depression. Sammy is preparing to make another short film - this time set in World War II - and has been bugging his dad about getting him a Mansfield 8MM movie editor. One day, Burt presents Sammy with the equipment, but he needs a favor in return. "I want you to make a camping trip movie," he says. "You can learn how the editing machine works while you do this. It'll make your mom feel better." Burt wants Sammy to start on the film tomorrow, but Sammy points out that's when he was supposed to start shooting his war film. "Don't be selfish. She just lost her mother. That's more important than your hobby," he says. "It'll cheer her up, watching this." Sammy is adamant. "Her mom just died. How is that gonna cheer her up?" he asks. "Because you made it for her," Burt replies quietly. "Something's not right. I don't know what else to do. Can you help me?" Sammy looks at his father, moved by his desperation.

Answer: The circus

Mitzi is woken up in the middle of the night by the telephone. It's Tina with a warning from beyond the grave. "Somebody's coming," she urges. "You musn't let him in." Mitzi doesn't understand and begs her mother not to go. Burt wakes up and tells Mitzi that she was having a bad dream. The next morning, Mitzi is still shaken. A cab pulls up outside the house and from it emerges an elderly man. "It's Uncle Boris!" Mitzi says as she looks out the window. "That's who she meant! That's my momma's brother." She turns to the rest of the family. "Don't let him in!"

Boris regales the family with tales of his time in the circus, where he worked as a lion tamer. After dinner, Mitzi performs Clementi's "Sonatina in C Major" as the family prepare for bed. Boris is bunking with Sammy, who complains about how his dad is making him put together a camping trip movie when he would rather make his war film. "Believe me, Sammy Boy, I get it. Family, art. It'll tear you in two," Boris says. He motions to Sammy to listen to his mother's piano playing. "You see what she got in her heart is what you got, what I got - art. Like me - like you, I think - we're junkies and art is our drug. Family we love, but art - we're meshugah for art." Sammy listens to his grand-uncle with a kind of dread tinged with hope. "So you remember your Uncle Boris and what he's telling you, because you're gonna join the circus, I can tell," Boris continues. "Oh you love those people, ah? Your sisters, your mama, your papa, except - (he places his hand on Sammy's editing machine) - except this, this I think you love a little more." Sammy starts to protest, but Boris isn't convinced. "You'll make your movies, and you will do your art," he tells Sammy. "Art will give you crowns in heaven and laurels on Earth, but it'll tear your heart out and leave you lonely. You'll be a shonde for your loved ones, an exile in the desert, a gypsy. Art is no game. Art is dangerous as a lion's mouth - it'll bite your head off." The next day, Sammy is still haunted by what he was told. "I don't know what momma was so worried about," Mitzi says, as Boris gets into his cab. "It was a nice visit."

Answer: Editing the movie for Mitzi

Mitzi sits at the piano in the living room playing Bach's "Concerto in D Minor". The music plays over the entire sequence, which contains no dialogue. Sammy is in his room hunched over the Mansfield editing machine, viewing footage from the camping trip. He tapes the sections of film he wants for the movie on the side of the table - Mitzi feigning death after a taste of the campfire stew, Mitzi hanging on to the side of a small sapling, the girls helping Burt clean a fish. Sammy changes the reel, winding the film forward and back through the viewer looking for the shots he wants, yawning every so often. He stops to consider a shot which caught Mitzi and Bennie in the background sitting on a log and talking, with Bennie playfully placing his hat on Mitzi. Sammy moves on to the next reel. He is viewing a shot of Reggie and Natalie playing in front of a tree with Mitzi and Bennie walking in the background. He notices something and rewinds the film to get another look. Through a break in the trees, he clearly sees Bennie place his hand around Mitzi's waist and Mitzi moving his hand away. As they continue down the trail in the woods, they appear to fall into an embrace. Sammy reloads an earlier reel to examine a sequence again - this time he notices the tender way Mitzi and Bennie gaze into each other's eyes. Sammy puts on another reel and quickly finds what he is looking for - Mitzi pretending to swoon and allowing Bennie to catch her in his arms. He stops the film on a frame showing Mitzi staring longingly at Bennie. Sammy backs up from the editor and falls to the floor behind him, horrified as he tries to process what he has seen.

Sammy screens the finished film for the family, which evokes all the appropriate reactions that he was aiming for. Sammy stands at the back of the room by the projector, heavy with the knowledge of what he has left out of the movie and how the finished product is an artifice. The movie ends with Mitzi's campfire dance, and when the film fades to white Mitzi rushes to Sammy excitedly. "It's so beautiful, what you made," she says. "You really see me." Sammy stares at his mother uncomfortably and then tends to the projector, as Mitzi looks on, confused.

Answer: Sammy's swimming test

Sammy is angry and distant for weeks after the screening of the camping movie, giving Mitzi the cold shoulder and completely ignoring Bennie. One morning, Sammy is at home preparing for his swimming test for the Boy Scouts. Natalie is quizzing Sammy but he can't remember all the steps for saving someone from drowning. Mitzi makes a joke about it in poor taste, which sets Sammy off. "This is serious business. I gotta know all of this to get the Lifesaving Merit Badge. More kids die in swimming accidents than in any other kind of accident," he says. Mitzi apologizes but Sammy isn't finished. "Not everything is a big joke. You laugh at everything, even when nothing's funny. You always have to be the center of attention," he complains. Mitzi has had enough. "Sammy Fabelman! For weeks now it has been nothing but disrespect from you," she says. "Disrespect?" Sammy says in disbelief. He gets up from the table to head to his room, but not before remarking that he wished Mitzi wasn't his mother. He turns away just as Mitzi reaches out to strike him, her hand making contact with his back causing him to stumble. He turns around in shock and Mitzi looks just as stunned. Before she can say anything, Sammy runs out of the dining room.

Mitzi follows him into his room. She starts to apologize but stops when she realizes that Sammy's seething rage is obviously about something else. "Talk to me. Tell me what's happening. Do you have any idea how much I love you?" she pleads. He turns as if to go but instead he closes the bedroom door quietly and retrieves a reel of film from his drawer. He loads the film in the projector and sets it up inside his closet. Silently, he takes Mitzi's hand and leads her inside. When she is settled in her usual viewing spot on the floor, he turns on the projector and backs out of the closet, closing the door behind him. Mitzi watches the film not knowing what to expect, and we see that it is made up of the shots of the camping trip that Sammy left out of the movie he assembled. Mitzi's smile slowly disappears as she realizes what she is watching. She finishes the movie and emerges from the closet, pulling the projector's power cord out from the outlet to turn off the equipment. She begins sobbing uncontrollably over the enormity of the moment. Sammy joins his mother on the floor, nestling his head on her shoulder in a tight embrace. "Mom, I won't tell. I won't tell, I won't," he says. Mitzi remains inconsolable.

Answer: Bennie

"Sure about this?" the clerk asks, as Sammy places his Bolex P1 camera on the counter. The place is busy, and a sound from the other end of the store makes Sammy turn to see Bennie handing another clerk a receipt. Bennie notices Sammy and walks over. "Stocking up on Kodak before the big move?" he asks. "Smart! Film's cheaper here than in California. I bet everything's more expensive there." Bennie turns to the clerk and explains that Sammy and his family are moving out west. "He just sold me his camera," the clerk replies. "Says he's finished." The second clerk returns with a large box that he places in front of Bennie, who slides it across to Sammy with a flourish. "It's for you," Bennie says, referring to the Bolex H-8 Reflex camera he just bought. "I know how much you loved using it for your war picture, so I figured you oughta have one of your own. It's a bon-voyage-see-ya-later-alligator- I-believe-in-you present from your Uncle Bennie."

Sammy exits the store and crosses the road, leaving Bennie to chase after him. He tries to offer the camera again but Sammy refuses to take it. "Because it's from me?" Bennie asks. Sammy won't look him in the eye. Bennie starts telling Sammy about how the move to California is the right decision "for all sorts of reasons" and that he's happy for them but will miss all of them. "You think whatever bad things you want about me, kiddo, but you stop making movies, it'll break your mother's heart," he says. "And she doesn't deserve that, not from anybody. Least of all from you." Sammy considers for a moment, then holds out the cash he got for his camera. "I'll give you 35 bucks for it," he says. "You drive a hard bargain, kid," Bennie replies. He takes the money and Sammy takes the camera, when Bennie suddenly pulls Sammy in for a hug. He says his goodbye and heads for his car. "I'm still done making movies, though," Sammy says as he walks away, when he notices the money sticking out of his shirt pocket. Bennie must have slipped it in during the hug. "Everybody makes movies in California," Bennie says, as he drives away. "Keep the change!"

Answer: Bullying

Sammy struggles to adjust to the new school, and quickly attracts the wrong kind of attention from Logan, the school's star athlete, and his best friend, Chad. Sammy accidentally hits Logan during a volleyball game in Phys. Ed., incurring the wrath of Chad. They catch up to Sammy in the locker room, intimidating him and referring to him with an anti-Semitic slur. Meanwhile, Mitzi also isn't adjusting well to the move. She's depressed and refuses to unpack their belongings, and argues with Burt about seeing a psychiatrist.

One day in school, Sammy is cornered by Chad and Logan, who resume their torments. Sammy tries pushing back, revealing to Claudia, Logan's girlfriend, that he saw Logan kissing another girl earlier that day. An upset Claudia returns Logan's letter sweater to him and storms off, and Logan retaliates by punching Sammy. Sammy returns home a bloody mess, but won't tell Mitzi who hit him. Burt comes home and asks Sammy to tell him what happened. "What happened is I hate it here!" Sammy begins. "Do you even notice how much we hate it here, where we're practically the only Jewish people for miles, and everything is awful? Do you even care that this is your fault, everything that's happening now, just because you ran away from home and took all of us with you?" For the first time, Burt loses his cool. "I think you have something to say to me, Sammy, and if I'm right about that, then get it off your chest and say it to my face!" he says. Before Sammy can answer, Mitzi climbs on top of the piano bench to get everyone's attention. "I started therapy!" she declares, breaking the tension. Sammy retreats to his room.

Answer: Ditch Day

Monica is having dinner at Sammy's house when the conversation turns to how Sammy sleeps with a camera under his pillow (which he denies) but refuses to shoot anything with it. Monica has a great idea. "He should shoot Ditch Day!" she exclaims, turning to Sammy. "They still don't have a photographer. You could volunteer." When Mitzi asks what Ditch Day is, Monica explains that it's a day at the end of the school year when the seniors are allowed to pretend to ditch classes and go to the beach. "You have to go, everyone goes," she says to Sammy. "My dad'll lend you his camera, it's super-fancy, costs like a thousand dollars. It's called like an Air something? I forget." That last comment gets Sammy's attention. "Wait. Not an Arriflex?" he asks. Sammy starts getting excited at the thought of working with a 16MM camera. "I'd need to rent a 16MM editing machine, I have no idea how much that costs," Sammy remarks. "We can rent it. Whatever it costs. Right, Burt?" Mitzi says. When Burt asks Sammy what's wrong with his current camera, Mitzi tells him that he could be more encouraging about Sammy making movies again.

"Maybe he's moved on," Burt says. "He hasn't picked up his camera once since we got here. He'll be going to college in September, maybe his feelings about it have changed. He's growing up. I'm enthusiastic about that." Mitzi disagrees. "Filming is what he loves, and I don't think him abandoning what he truly loves is something we should celebrate. Do you? I'd think that you more than anyone would have some understanding of what a vocation, a calling, is," she says. Burt knows when he is beat, so he relents and agrees to rent the equipment, but it's clear that he's not happy. "But it's not your calling. Is that why you can't respect it?" Mitzi continues. "I have respect for everything he works hard doing," Burt replies. "You always dismiss what he does - what anyone does - that's playful or imaginative as a pastime or a hobby," Mitzi says, not letting it go. The argument starts to spiral into other areas, until Sammy puts an end to it. "Can you ask your dad about borrowing the camera?" he says to Monica. "I'm filming Ditch Day. I think it's a great idea."

Answer: Mitzi is moving back to Arizona.

Mitzi had told Sammy that she never crossed the line with Bennie and that she was determined to stay married to Burt, but after trying to make things work for several months in California, Mitzi is at the end of her rope. One day, the kids are called into the living room for a family meeting. "Don't be scared," Burt says. "Your mom misses Phoenix too much, and I can't leave, this is where my work is." Natalie is the first to protest. "That's crazy! You can't ruin everything because you miss one place and you're stuck someplace else," she says. "I miss Bennie too much," Mitzi says quietly. "So? We all miss him," Natalie says. "This is a different kind of missing," Mitzi says, tearing up. "Because what? You love Bennie?" Natalie asks. "Don't you love daddy?" Lisa interjects. Both Mitzi and Burt respond in the affirmative, which doesn't help to make things any clearer. "Then why is this all of a sudden happening?" Natalie asks. Reggie, who has been listening in silence so far, weighs in. "Stay together. You love each other and you love us, and we don't want this, we don't want to have to move back and forth and not live with both of you," she says. Natalie suddenly lashes out at Mitzi. "You're always so mean to him. That's why you're getting divorced. It's because of you," she says. "Don't blame your mom. This wasn't her idea, it was mine," Burt says. "I'm giving your mom a chance to go back to Phoenix to live."

Sammy sits on the stairs observing all of this. From his vantage point, he imagines himself with his camera moving fluidly between his other family members, working out the blocking and filming the discussion as it unfolds.

Answer: That he is just like Mitzi

Sammy is in his room working on a 16MM editor, when Reggie enters. "I don't understand how you can go back to your beach blanket movie after that," she says. "We're different, I guess," he says matter-of-factly. "Is she gonna marry Bennie?" Reggie asks, taking a seat on the edge of the bed behind Sammy. "If she wants to, she will. She's the most selfish person in the world," Sammy replies. He continues working on his film. "It must've been hard for her, married to a genius," Reggie remarks. "Dad worships Mom," Sammy points out. "Okay, but maybe it's hard being worshipped by someone you know you'll never be as good as, or ever do anything as good as. She laughs at Bennie's jokes, but Dad's always been her best audience," Reggie replies in tears. "Come on. She'll be fine, she'll tell herself everything happens for a reason, she'll make excuses like she always does," Sammy tells his sister. "You're way more selfish than her," Reggie says. Sammy tries to laugh her remark off as a joke, but Reggie is serious.

"That's why you're angry at her. It's because she's scared. Just like you, Sammy," Reggie continues. "Out of everyone in this outta-control falling-apart family, the one who's most like Mitzi is you." Reggie starts to leave, but Sammy stops her. "Wait," he says. "Before I show this to the whole school, could you please watch it with me?" Reggie takes up position behind Sammy with her arm around his shoulders. They both focus on the editing machine as Sammy pushes the 'play' button.

Answer: He's afraid he can't live up to the portrayal.

Sammy's Ditch Day movie is screened for the entire class of seniors at prom. We see students swimming, sunbathing, and taking part in a hot dog eating contest and water balloon fight. Sammy's bully, Logan, features prominently in the film, appearing in the volleyball game, limbo contest and improvised track race on the beach. The footage glorifies Logan, convincing Claudia to get back together with him and prompting the rest of the class to celebrate him. A troubled Logan confronts Sammy in the hallway afterwards. "Why'd you make me look like that?" Logan asks. "All I did was hold the camera and it saw what it saw," Sammy says, surprised at Logan's agitation. "Fabelman, you made me look like, like this golden kind of thing," Logan continues. "I wanna know why you did that." Logan thinks that Sammy was trying to make him feel bad for all the bullying, but the truth is a little more complicated. "I wanted you to be nice to me for five minutes, or I did it to make my movie better. I don't know why. You are the biggest jerk I have ever met in my entire life," Sammy says. "I made you look like you can fly."

"But I can't fly!" Logan says. "I can outrun any guy in Santa Clara County, and I worked real hard to do that. But you, you make me feel like I'm some kinda failure or a phony, or like I'm supposed to be some guy I'm never gonna be, not even in my dreams. You took that guy whoever he is wherever you got him from and you put him up there on that screen and told everyone - everyone - that that's me! And that's not me." To Sammy's surprise, Logan breaks down in tears, crumpling to the floor against the lockers. "It wasn't supposed to make you upset. I didn't mean to freak you out," Sammy says. "Who cares what you meant?" Logan responds. Logan composes himself and tells Sammy to keep his outburst their secret. "Definitely," Sammy says, before adding, "Unless I make a movie about it." Logan turns and gives Sammy an intimidating stare. "Which I'm never ever gonna do," Sammy says quickly.

Answer: "You don't owe anyone your life. Not even me."

Mitzi is in the kitchen making salami and eggs when Sammy comes home from prom. Mitzi asks him about his night, before turning to a more serious topic. "That time when I hit you," she begins. Sammy pretends that he can't remember. "Oh for the love of God, it's not like I spent my whole life hitting you. Once. I hit you once! It should have been memorable," Mitzi says. "Before the swimming test," Sammy says quietly. "Yes! Before the swimming test. I slapped you on your back, as hard as I could, I screwed up your tryout and you couldn't get your merit badge and then you couldn't make Eagle Scout," Mitzi replies. Sammy assures his mother that he made Eagle Scout and it wasn't a big deal. "I need you to say you forgive me for doing that," she says. "Because how am I ever gonna forgive myself?" Sammy pulls her into a hug to stop her from spiraling further and tells her that he forgives her, and that the eggs are burning.

Mitzi takes the skillet off the stove and turns to face Sammy. "I'm doing this thing, and I don't know if it's the right thing, but it's a life-and-death thing for me, and I'm sorry but everybody else is gonna have to hang on for dear life, and somehow we will survive this, all of us, even your father who I adore with all my heart - he deserves so much better than what I'm doing," she says, as she butters some toast. "But Bennie needs me, Dolly, and I need him, so much so that without him I'm turning into someone I don't know, and none of you will know me anymore. I'll just be that hateful person who did that terrible thing to your back. And yes, this is the most selfish thing I have ever done, but I've gotta do this now because, Sammy," she reaches out to him with her hand, before continuing, "You do what your heart says you have to, 'cause you don't owe anyone your life. Not even me."

Answer: Yes

Sammy, now 18 years old, returns home hyperventilating. Burt finds him in the kitchen washing his face in the sink. "I think I'm having a heart attack," he says. Burt listens to Sammy's chest and looks at his son. "It's a panic attack. Your mother gets them," he says. He puts the kettle on to make some tea, as Sammy slumps to the floor. "Dad, I don't know what to do anymore," he says. "I don't want to disappoint you and I promised that I'd stick it out, but two years is like forever, and I hate school, like, a lot, and I want to get work on a movie or a TV show, so I send out all those letters but nobody ever writes back, and my life is just going by so fast, but it's not getting anywhere." Burt gives Sammy his tea and asks him to go through the mail while he heats up some soup. Mitzi has sent some photos from Phoenix, but Burt is crestfallen when he sees a photo with Mitzi and Bennie goofing off in the background. "If you hate school so much, don't go," Burt says. "This film thing, I don't know. Maybe I should've put my foot down about it, years ago. But I know you're going to work like the dickens on whatever you wind up doing, because you're a chip off the old block. We're never not going to know each other, Sammy."

Sammy receives a letter from CBS and gets a job working on "Hogan's Heroes". While on the studio lot he is introduced to legendary director John Ford, who gives him some valuable advice about how to frame a shot so that it's interesting. The film ends with Sammy walking through the Paramount backlot excited about his future. The camera frames the shot with the horizon in the center, and then - almost as if it's recalling Ford's advice - clumsily shifts the horizon to the bottom of the frame.