Louis Malle did a great job keeping the tone gentle and innocent. The sensitive subjects that were touched on were handled well instead of them being seedy and vulgar. And like many others have already noted, it was beautifully filmed.
I know the attempt was to handle the subject matter with gentleness and innocence but I don't agree that's how it came across; not to me. Supposedly they 'fall' into the situation by accident. The mother shows her son affection as he helps her out of her clothes. Oh so innocent. Right! She was drunk and failed to find someone else she wanted to share her bed.
What led to the events that night started long before that particular night. The mother's loose ways, her neglect of her family, her failure to set a good example for them, and raise them properly, all factored into the equation. Long before the boys were born, she got involved with their father and was forced to marry him because she got pregnant.
The woman seems to go through life acting as if she's a victim; like things just happen to her like, oh, oops, she had sex with her son. Spare me! She's stumbling through life making and leaving messes in her wake. The husbands family was absolutely right about her.
In my opinion, she had already gone way too far when she talked to her son about her sex life, brought her lover to the room, and told him she wanted to run off with him. "We'll never speak of this and it will never happen again" is what she tells him after having sex with him. Wow, now the kid has all sorts of issues he can't deal with. He can't speak of it with her or anyone else. Talk about causing sexually deviancy.
Studies show a lot of prisoners have 'mommy issues.' Well, make room for one more warden. At the end when she laughs, it's all about realizing if her son had not gone out to sleep with whichever girl would have him, the rest of the family would have caught them naked in each other’s arms. I'd say at least the other sons were spared having to deal with that revelation but, hey, they have the same mother. She's probably already slept with both of them or will. In either case, they were already pretty messed up sexually and otherwise.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]
reply
share
virgiltx
9 years ago
You seem to be saying that she did what she did because that's what kind of person she was. Big surprise! Isn't the movie trying to show us that?
Also, a lot of prisoners tell psychologists what they think those psychologists want to hear. At one time, the absent-father-figure was a popular theory among psychologists, and we kept hearing that the prisoners were talking about that.
Well, make room for one more warden.
He's a fictional character. How can we check if he ended up in jail?
...the other sons...She's probably already slept with both of them or will.
Again, they're all fictional. Do you mean Malle intends for us to believe that is part of the story? Is it expressly implied anywhere in the film?
____________________
The story is king.
reply
share