The Wolf of Wall Street

Jordan Belfort on the phone in 1987, eager and ambitious. Energy, greed, and charm established.

Jordan: "The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself." Theme of ambition, excess, and moral compromise.

Jordan starts at L.F. Rothschild. Learns finance basics. Meets Donnie Azoff. Learns to sell aggressively. Aspirations high. Introduces family, stock market, and Wall Street culture.

Black Monday crash. Jordan loses job. Realizes he must take risks to succeed. Decides to start own firm. Stakes raised.

Jordan wrestles with ethical lines, legality, and ambition. Should he break laws to achieve wealth? Motivated by power and status, questions of morality loom.

Launches Stratton Oakmont. Rapid success. Wild parties, drugs, and excess. Gains fortune and power. Enters world of high risk and reward.

Relationship with Naomi Lapaglia. Love, marriage, and family life amidst chaos. Emotional grounding, personal stakes.

Life of excess: yachts, drugs, orgies, lavish lifestyle. Stock market scams. Humor, flamboyance, spectacle. Promise: indulgence, power, and charm.

FBI investigation begins. False victory: wealth and power at peak, but danger imminent. Stakes become serious, tension rises.

Legal problems, IRS tracking, betrayal by employees. Lifestyle unsustainable. Anxiety and paranoia increase.

Jordan arrested. Assets seized. Family and empire crumbling. Career and freedom at lowest point. Emotional nadir.

Jordan reflects on choices, excess, and morality. Realization of the cost of greed. Introspection before final actions.

Agrees to cooperate with FBI. Plans next moves. Redemption arc begins. Synthesis of lessons learned and survival.

Jordan testifies, avoids longest sentence. Freed. Finds a new path as motivational speaker. Legacy of excess remains, but life continues.

Jordan on stage teaching sales tactics. Energy, ambition, and charisma intact, but tempered by consequences. Cycle of ambition and excess complete.