MovieChat Forums > Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Discussion > Would you find Elliot (Michael Caine) at...

Would you find Elliot (Michael Caine) attractive??

posted 15 years ago by mustang_steph
26 replies | jump to latest

I love this movie, but I have always found it a little strange that Lee (Barbara Hershey) would have been attracted to Elliot. I can understand him being attracted to her, but with his sweater vests and those huge glasses, I just don't see her feeling a mutual attraction.

To me, the scene where they meet up and kiss is actually uncomfortable for me to watch. It just seems creepy. It even gets weirder when she calls him and talks about feeling close to him. Ugh.

Am I the only person who feels this way? I love Michael Caine as an actor, so I mean no offense to him, I just don't see someone like Barbara Hershey's character being attracted to him.

[–] ginaloo 15 years ago

Well, those huge glasses and sweaters were in style then. The bigger the glasses, the better, in the 1980's. I just happened to watch this last night. Didn't really care for the film, but I think Michael Caine was appealing. Obviously, Lee liked (very) older men - she was living with Max von Sydow, who looked quite elderly and made Michael Caine look young and verile by comparison.

[–] skiop 15 years ago

Isn't it explicitly stated in this movie that her attraction to him is intellectual, not physical?

[–] Freaking_Bellsx 15 years ago

He wasn't that old. And he looked a lot better without the glasses.

[–] Jam0-0 15 years ago

This is really just my assumption but..I thought Lee liked Elliot because he was Hannah's husband. Lee seemed to feel inferior to Hannah who's kind, talented, and loved by everybody. Having to steal someone who Hannah dearly loves gave her an excitement in her dull life and the feeling of being superior to her sister and that's why she "thought" she loved Elliot.

[–] archer1267 15 years ago

Well, if she was involved with Max von Sydow, it's fair to assume that she didn't have a problem with men much older (and less attractive) than herself, and that a part of her liked being taken care of by a man.

I think part of the attraction was, Elliott was unconditionally into her, whereas Friedrich saw her as his "project" - someone to tutor in the arts and culture.

[–] love_platipus 14 years ago

In Woody Allen movies, gorgeous women are always attracted to unlikely guys. It's just sort of one of the things you have to except and suspend disbelief to enjoy him.

[–] Noir-It-All 14 years ago

After they made love for the first time, Lee told Elliot that he had spoiled her for anyone else. Later that night, she telephoned him to tell him that she felt close to him. So, her attraction for him included the sexual and the intimate.

"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne

[–] onegreendress 14 years ago

I can always look past a person's glasses, since I wear them, too. I like tall men with sexy voices and intelligence...and so, yes, I would be attracted to Michael Caine as he looks in this film (or in any of his films).

[–] generalusgrant 14 years ago

I think people are forgetting that in the mid to late 60's, Michael Caine was considered incredibly hot and sexy. He was literally considered in the same league of "cool" and hot as the Beatles or Sean Connery. (Watch "Alfie," a defining movie of the 60's). You couldn't get more hip or desirable than Michael Caine and some of that bleeds over into this film.

Is he conventionally handsome? No, but he's still a little bit sexy and he's got that great Cockney accent.

Actually, I think Max von Sydow is the sexiest person in the movie (not that he has any competition... well... Sam Watterston possibly).

[–] PoppyTransfusion 13 years ago

If such a man besieged me in a book shop and bought me a book of ee cumings colected poems, selecting the one he did, I would be attractive. It's not just how he looks but what he does.

I'm a fountain of blood
In the shape of a girl

[–] intofilm 13 years ago

She was attracted to him initially because of the romantic eecummings poem. Also she seemed to have a thing for profesors.

[–] 13 years ago

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