Drama
United States of America
The Social Network is a 2010 biographical drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. It is based on the book "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich, which tells the story of the founding of Facebook and the legal battles that followed.
The film starts with Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) creating Facemash, a website that allowed users to rate the attractiveness of their fellow students. This site gets him in trouble with the Harvard administration but also catches the attention of Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer) and their business partner Divya Narendra (played by Max Minghella), who approach Zuckerberg with an idea for a social networking site called HarvardConnection.
Zuckerberg agrees to work on the site but instead creates his own, called Thefacebook. This leads to a legal battle with the Winklevoss twins and Narendra, accusing Zuckerberg of stealing their idea. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg's best friend and co-founder of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin (played by Andrew Garfield), is pushed out of the company and sues Zuckerberg for diluting his shares.
The film switches back and forth between the lawsuits and the early days of Facebook's explosive growth. It also explores Zuckerberg's relationships with women, including his then-girlfriend Erica Albright (played by Rooney Mara) and Facebook employee Christy Lee (played by Brenda Song).
In the end, Zuckerberg settles with Saverin and the Winklevoss twins, but the legal battles tarnish the reputation of Facebook's founders and leave Zuckerberg questioning the cost of his success.
The Social Network was widely praised for its direction, screenplay, and performances, earning multiple Academy Award nominations and winning three for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Film Editing. It is considered one of the defining films of the 2010s and a reflection of the cultural impact of social media.
