MovieChat Forums > The Enchanted Cottage (1945) Discussion > Hiding Their Faces After Their 'Transfor...

Hiding Their Faces After Their 'Transformation'

posted 16 years ago by Huggo
2 replies | jump to latest

I did quite enjoy this movie, especially the overall arc of the storyline. However, after their supposed transformation, I didn't quite understand why they kept hiding their faces. There is the one scene in particular where they open the door to speak to the Mildred Natwick character, and they purposefully turned their heads away from her to speak to her. If they truly believed they had transformed into outwardly beautiful people, their actions made no sense. Is it supposed to signify that deep in their hearts they knew that their transformation was solely internal to themselves?

[–] IsoldeJaneHolland 16 years ago

I wondered about that myself. Their friend the pianist explains it as 'honeymoon shyness' but the honeymooners I've encountered are anything but shy; I saw this couple in a pool in Bermuda once . . . well, never mind.

Wonderful movie, although the scene at the canteen is heartbreaking. I love the window with the names on it.

[–] hallospacegurl 15 years ago

They hid their faces from everyone because they had no concrete way of proving to people outside of the cottage, who did not believe it held any special powers, just how the transformation was possible. They were afraid no one would believe them except their close friend.

The little boy had told Laura at the beginning of the movie that he thought a witch lived there. That surely showed that others in the town believed the same thing.

I think they did that to Mildred because she was avoiding them as well, and knew about the transformation from experience. I think the reason she was avoiding them was because it was a very painful reminder of her counterpart, her husband, being dead. Laura mentioned something about feeling or knowing that Mildred knew what had happened to them.