She became very ill after what (John malkovich) told her in the "beyond my control scene) she must have been really heartbroken, but you can't really die from this can you?
Is being heart broken even a medical condition and can it possibly cause death?
By the way love the movie, epic performances, Oscar worthy on every level.
I don't know. I'm more confused about why the doctors were burning and cutting her to help cure her depression.
shareIt's an old medical technique called cupping.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupping_therapy
The book might add some illumination. Based on what we see in the movie, it's very possible that her death was caused, or at least contributed to by, excessive bloodletting. This could have exacerbated a then-unknown preexisting condition, like anemia or low blood pressure.
shareIt's maybe not something you can actually die from but it was believed that you could at the time the novel was written. It's probably better to view it as a literary device rather than examine it too closely. She succumbs to a fever on hearing the news of Valmont's death.
sharePeople die from the effects of stress every day. Why would you think they can't die from the effects of other emotional states, like grief? That too can have a profound impact on one's health: loss of appetite, insominia, lowered immunity to infection - all of which could contribute to one's death. Have you never heard of people whose death shortly follows that of a loved one - say a spouse of many years? Sad, but not that unusual.
shareAgreed with you rrb.
It is not that unusual. One can actually die from grief, just as rrb says above, people stop eating, stop taking care of themselves physically, etc. They "waste away" and die, usually from infection due to their weaker immune system. My grandma's cousin died that way, her fiance died in WWII and she just wandered about the house, never eating, becoming a shadow and about two months after the news she just died, heart failure due to stress on the body.
As to Madame de Tourvel, she exhibited all the classic symptoms. She also wanted to die but not commit suicide. She not only grieved terribly for losing Valmont, but also because she betrayed her husband, her vows, her beliefs and honour. So between guilt and grief she just "wasted away" and the blood letting of the era definitely did not help.
rrb and jingizu are right.
It is a "disguised" suicide. Not that you actually hang yourself of shoot yourself. But you "let" your body become weak by not taking care of yourself (not eating because you lost your appetite because of the grief, not enough sleep, pushing yourself to the limit in your work etc).
It is suspected that is the way many older people die now a days: they are depressed and in a way want to die, so they just don't take their medication anymore, eat less...etc. It can take you years to die in that way, but it is suspected that quite a few people die that way. This way of dying is not taken into any statistic because usually nobody knows about it at the time of death. It's easier to catalogue someone who died from a heart attack or cancer
I was uncertain about this too, but am I the only one who thought she had a sexually transmitted disease?
shareCertainly possible, although they would have taken much longer to kill, I think. After all, if she had one, she got it from him, and he wasn't dying.
I think the other posters have the best explanations: depression and anemia, exacerbated by bad medical practices, maybe infection from the bleeding, and then finally a high fever finishes her off.
...Sad, but true. share
depression and anemia, exacerbated by bad medical practices, maybe infection from the bleeding, and then finally a high fever finishes her off.
Yes you can.
Madame de Tourvel had very pure feelings, and when she surrenders to Valmont she's unable to suppose that he'll leave her after only 4 months. She believes very hard he loves her and was about to kill himself if he couldn't get her -he wasn't sincere we know.
And he leaves her in a very mean way -telling her, suggesting she could seek another lover. That's unbearable to hear that for anyone, and worst for someone like her. When pain confines brain over limits, the body expresses it and follows.
maybe you should change the title instead of giving the film away
shareCould you please satisfy my curiosity as to why someone comes to the message board prior to watching a film? The parental advisory can tell you/warn you about what might concern you prior to viewing so why not just go there instead of chancing spoilers which are always on the message boards? Thank you. Cheers.
"I say,open this door at once! We're British !"
At first I thought she had tried to kill herself; she may have had tuberculosis, or consumption as they called it back then. It certainly would explain her wasting away and the cupping was a treatment that would have been applied. Such a shame that they believed that bleeding a patient helped cure them - so many were lost through weakness and literally being bled to death.
English MA: Symbolism/my life. Truth vs the world - Boudicca of the Iceni
I think George Washington died this way.
shareYes...it can. Old people can die with in days, weeks, even hours of each other. People can die within a short period of time that their children die. People can and do die of depression, hopelessness, giving up.
shareBleeding was performed to bring down the dangerous fever that she had. Cupping was used to stimulate blood flow to help her organs.
shareWasn't it mentioned in the film that she was very fragile anyway, physically? It was certainly shown that she was quite delicate, but I could swear there was a line early on about her never having been truly strong or well physically.
*****
People said love was blind, but what they meant was that love blinded them.