was that what her husband said? wow that was total irony when he finally said it to Helen. And it really kills me when they show her thinking about Gene hackman, the man she should have been with and he is telling her that he is happy. I love the music too. Geneopede or some such name like that.
peace out
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That is the saddest scene, the dream sequence with Gene Hackman. I almost cried, when he said, "I have to go, my wife needs me"... The music is perfect for the scene. You completely feel her sense of lost of opportunity at real love. Touching scene...
shareohh my god. that is sad. Gene Hackman was perfect for that role too, however small. Allen is a genius.
You stare and blare and say you care but you're unfair you want a pear!--Marnie
That one sentence spoke volumes about Ian Holm's character. Even after listening to all of her reasons why, I still couldn't understand why Gena Rowlands ever chose him over Gene Hackman.
For Connie n Raymond Marble, it was the beginning of the end!
I think it was that Helen thought she was supposed to be with someone like Ian Holm's character and not someone like Gene Hackman's. Also I think she probably recognized her father in Ian Holm's character and probably identified him with those characteristics.
shareI think it was explained well in Mia's interpretation of herself - that she runs from men with too much passion because it frightens her. Same applies to Marion.
share~~~~~Even after listening to all of her reasons why, I still couldn't understand why Gena Rowlands ever chose him over Gene Hackman.~~~~~
She was irresponsible so she chose bland instead of feeling. Lots of people do then live to regret it (albeit in bourgeois comfort).
Nice satire Woody.
Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.
It is possible she chose the man who was right for her in that stage in her life and now she is in a new place in her life, she's changed and she thinks maybe she should have been with Gene, but you only get two moments of them together, that doesn't mean it would have worked. She's just remembering those two instances. In reality she could have chosen him and he could have been too passionate for her. Without spoiling anything, remember, if you can, what she did for the sake of her career when she was with the much older man who was her professor and who wanted a child, she was obsessed with the life of the mind, only later did she take an interest in the life of the heart.
The thing is people change and spouses don't always change in the same direction and when people are unhappy they reflect on what could have been but in reality what could have been never would have been as wonderful as the imagination makes it to be.
Thanks for reminding me of this great device. It's been years since I saw the film, but IIRC, Holm's character says this more than once. The first time he says it, I was thinking, "Wow, he's really taking some resonsibility for his misdeeds." The second time he uses the same speech, I was thinking, "What a total schmuck. He *says* he's remorseful, but he's obviously just going through the motions." Like the person who says "excuse me" as they knock you aside in a bull rush to get to the front of the line.
Great film, brilliantly acted, and beautifully written by Woody.
Yes, he says it twice -- in this film, at least. I assume it's a line he would use even more frequently throughout the course of the day as a means of paying lip service to a misdeed.
This is one of dozens of pieces of dialogue in this film that can't always be taken at face value. There's so much subtext here that at times it's overwhelming -- but it's incredibly rewarding to analyze it.
All said is true about the repeated sentence, but also it came the second time to indicate that he is betraying her with another woman, as he was betraying his first wife, to whom he said it at first, with Marion. She should have snapped and figure it out, but she was still denying the truth about herself and about her life to toss in.
Such a wonderful movie, which asks from the viewer such a mature emotional capacity as Allen put in it himself.
Good point on the use of the line the second time. It strikes me as extremely passive-aggressive, an attempt to put the blame on the accuser and portray himself as a victim – "condemnation" sounds like such a severe weapon, even when it's deserved by someone who "accepts" it.
This film has much to say about relationships, hopes, yearning, jealousy and pain – the stuff life is made of.
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