In the first few minutes you already know the mother is the bitch from hell, taking the French toast and putting it down the disposal because he said he wasn't hungry. (Haven't watched the whole movie in a long time so I don't recall, maybe she redeems herself.)
share[deleted]
That's pretty harsh. She may not have "redeemed" herself, but you can't hold that against her. The truth is you can't keep French toast. Have you ever tried reheating French toast? It's never up to the standard of coming fresh out of the pan or off of the griddle. And it's not one of those 'just as good cold' dishes like fried chicken or roast beef. Room temperature or cold French toast is unenjoyable. So if you must judge Beth (which is a whole separate argument) don't judge her on that early scene where she disposes of Conrad's uneaten French toast. She may know a little more about cooking than Calvin. Give her credit where credit is due.
shareNonsense, reheated French toast can be even better.
But that aside, the point is the way she says it and her attitude. If you can't see where I'm coming from on that, we probably have little to discuss. (I did finish the movie since making this comment, and I'd have to say in some ways the character becomes more understandable, but redemption is probably the wrong paradigm to begin with.)
I think you make good points. But couldn't that scene be illustrating something else about her character than her contempt for Conrad? I don't think the movie discloses that Calvin was an orphan. The book does. As such, Calvin had a much more working class upbringing than his patrician wife, Beth. What this scene could be saying is that Beth is entitled and does not care about wasting food. Calvin, on the other hand, finds disposing of perfectly good French toast objectionable because it is edible even if it is not as sumptuous as when it first came out of the pan. Also, her attitude could be the offense any cook/chef feels when any patron does not eat/finish their creation. So she may have had the same reaction to Calvin not eating her French toast or, dare I say, Buck had he been alive.
share