MovieChat Forums > Ladri di biciclette (1949) Discussion > The fortune teller was brutal!

The fortune teller was brutal!

posted 15 years ago by wolfsblood66210
11 replies | jump to latest

Why did the fortune teller tell that average normal-looking guy he was ugly? I couldn't figure that out unless the meaning was lost in translation. It was so weird.

[–] zaragozana 15 years ago

She was making it all up as she went along. She was a cruel and heartless fake, defrauding her peers and neighbours, and yet they queued up for her. Then the rubbish about "find [the bicycle] quickly or not at all" and waving away the payment for her daughter to deal with as if it were distasteful to her, when in fact money was her motivation.

That's my take on it.

[–] lantzn 11 years ago

Yeah that waving off the money just sent a chill up my spine. She was knowingly fleecing the poor.

[–] franzkabuki 11 years ago

The bit about finding the bike quickly or not at all´s pretty much common sense, of course. Any bum could have hit him with that piece of knowledge.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] SPfromOZ 15 years ago

I speak Italain and 'brutto' has always meant ugly. If she wanted to call him a brute she would have said 'Animale'(animal) or even 'Bestia'(beast)

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tbs1 14 years ago

I don´t think she was that bad. She said obvious things. Yes probably there were no idea to try that girl because she doesn´t love him it would be better to try another girl. Yes he either find the bicycle directly or it will be lost forever that´s obvious too. Some people want someone else to tell them what to do and a fortune teller can do that.

[–] jhay_dee 13 years ago

The fortune teller was brutal, in the sense that she was exploiting the desperation of the people in order to make her own living but on the other hand she may have been a fraud but was providing the people with hope. Perhaps she became a fortune teller because she herself needed money- I think that's what I enjoyed about the movie; there were no characters I felt were amoral- they were all just subject to their circumstance.

[–] Maniac_In_Black 8 years ago

Good point

[–] dgiors 13 years ago

She set the mold for Sylvia Browne. A heartless fraud through and through.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] drxcreatures 11 years ago

It was lousy of her to insult the young man.

http://www.cgonzales.net & http://www.drxcreatures.com