MovieChat Forums > The Ice Storm (1997) Discussion > Elijah's papa.. (potential spoiler)

Elijah's papa.. (potential spoiler)

posted 19 years ago by t_mac
22 replies | jump to latest

I don't think this was suppose to be obvious... but after seeing some of the stupid comments on these threads,, I had to post this..

did anyone else realize/think, that Kevin Kline was Elijah Wood's real father..

the reason I believe this to be true.. is
A - When his alleged father says something like "He must take after me" or whatever,, Sigourney Weaver's face was not obvious, but looked very guilty. sort of a,,, 'well that's a weird thing to say, seeing as though our neighbour is really his father'..

and B - there's a question to many of why it took him until the morning to get his body home... I think it's because in his death, Kline may have realized that this could be his child... and it hit him harder than one might expect.

[–] DryToast 19 years ago

Ben and Janey's affair was of very recent development. It certainly hasn't been going on for 14 years or however old Mikey is.

Ben's rite of passage with Mikey's body is more about Ben's need of redemption than his actual relationship with Mikey.

Just because you don't like milk doesn't mean the cow made a mistake.

[–] shaze2boys 19 years ago

i think it took him til daylight to get his body home becuz he walked. closing scenes show the station wagon where he left it when he discovered his body.

[–] i_like_REAL_movies 19 years ago

yeah, you're just wrong

[–] irishfl80 19 years ago

Hmmm I never read the book, which i suspect like most books compared to movies has more details. However I was thinking the same thing, because of the look Sigourney Weaver had when the husband mentioned that, but also for other hints given thruout the movie.

For example, when Kline catches his daughter fooling around with Mikey, he gets really pissed off as would be expected, but on the way home he says he wasn't really mad about what she was doing, but rather who she was doing it with.

Then ofcoarse at the very end when he looks at his kids and starts to cry, it felt like he was crying over Mikey's death.

They also had the same hair style, but hey when your trying to make people look 70's like there aren't too many hair styles that stand out from the decade.

[–] daisywheel 19 years ago

why can't it just be that neither of the parents wanted the kids to get involved because *they* (the adults) were the ones playing with fire and wanted to keep it at least sort of tidy that way?

when he said, "i just don't think it's going to work out..." he's talking about his own affair. and when (not if) it all finally blows up, if the kids are involved with each other, hasta la vista, baby, because who knows if the two families will even associate with each other afterward. he and mrs. carver KNOW that nothing good can come of it. sure, they're stupid enough (bored, really) to have the affair, but they're not daft. they know it's all a big mess.

this whole movie is about the aftermath of the sexual revolution and what it did to so-called normal american life. and, in this case, in the suburbs, and, more specifically, within a certain social strata, who thought they could be above it all, so cool about it.... it was all about trying to maintain some semblance of the niceties of social (suburban) order versus the wild heyday of free love. how do you put those things together? can you? gee, i guess there ARE consequences...!

forget about hairstyles; there's no subliminal clue in there. that's just how guys wore their hair back then. and speaking of hair, how hilarious was the style sported by that minister or reverend or whatever he was.... what a crackup. he was the groovy minister.

maybe a little *too* groovy....

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jungleesh 19 years ago

I completely agree with you, I stated the samething in a previous thread. Why else would the parents be so adamant about keeping Christina Ricci and Elijah Wood characters apart?

[–] jfulbright 19 years ago

If Kevin Kline's character isn't Wood's father, then someone else other than Weaver's husband most certainly is.

Further, note the similar hairstyles and looks of Tobey McGuire and Elijah Wood--normally siblings in films don't resemble each other, but in this case the resemblance could be a clue.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] pop146-1 19 years ago

me tooo!!! i just finished watching it and i think that kevin kline was the father! i mean from the way sigourney(spelling???) weaver's face looked after the dad said the he probably gets it from me line and kevin kline talking to his daughter about him, AND the way he sobs after the death.

"Do The Chickens Have Large Talons?... I Don't Understand A Word You Just Said."

[–] tori-44 19 years ago

t_Mac, do u like Toby Mac or something? Im going 2 his 4th concert in June.

*Tori*

[–] 4424 19 years ago

I just saw this, and I thought this too.

[–] the_Poppuns 19 years ago

I agree. I just watched it the other day again and thought it all over again. There was something kinda obvious about it.

Excuse me lady, could you shave over there?

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] suresh23s 18 years ago

if this is the case then the movie has failed to portray it as u describe i'd think.

If Sigourney Weaver's look was supposed to be one of disgust, it didn't look anything like that. Looked more like guilt.
<<Spoiler>>
And if Kevin Kline's initial thought was supposed to be tht the body was his son's , that also didn't come out good.

May be I should just pick out the book & read.

ps: not related to this topic, but i think a rather large chunk has been edited out.

[dance][dance]cojito ergo sum

[–] MissRaedeLarge 18 years ago

I saw that face that Weaver's character made and definitely thought then that someone else besides Sheridan's character was the father. I don't think it was Kline's character because their affair hadn't been going on that long, had it?

We must make an idol of our fear... and call it god.

[–] codyhoskins 17 years ago

I got what you meant Nightman-3 at the end where you mentioned Tobey and Elijah's similar coats. Because everyone I've watched the film with got confused where after Elijah dies, it cuts to Tobey and they say, "Wait did he just die?" Still there is an interesting connection between Mikey and Paul.

They're both kind of in their own world and trying to find something beyond their own intellectual minds. Also, Elijah and Tobey look slightly alike and have similar voices. In some ways, it's like Paul was controlling Mikey's fate when he was reading the comic book and Mikey died when Paul got the part in the comic book where Reed Richards' son is blasted. When the power in the train goes off the minute Mikey dies, it's like his fate is taking its effect on Paul even though he doesn't know what's happened. Did Paul ever know Mikey by the way, for those of you who read the book?

[–] DryToast 17 years ago

I'm adding another 2 cents to this thread because I saw the film again yesterday and Janey clearly says to Ben at the key party they have had have had only a few casual encounters together, he's getting too possessive and he needs to back off. This is not what a woman says to the father of her teenage child! So to reiterate to those of you who are so proud of yourselves for seeing hidden meanings where they do not exist:

BEN IS NOT MIKEY'S FATHER.
BEN IS NOT MIKEY'S FATHER.
BEN IS NOT MIKEY'S FATHER.
BEN IS NOT MIKEY'S FATHER.
BEN IS NOT MIKEY'S FATHER.
BEN IS NOT MIKEY'S FATHER.
BEN IS NOT MIKEY'S FATHER.
BEN IS NOT MIKEY'S FATHER.

However, those of you who take note of Janey's expression when her husband says that Mikey takes after him have certainly got a point. Mike's real father may not have been Janey's husband, or perhaps Janey just thinks her husband is an insufferable jerk (a rather harsh judgment to make of the man who gave us those styrofoam packing peanuts).

Some extra evidence from the book: the Hoods have only known the Carvers for about four years, when the Hoods moved to town. It is also clearer in the book that Ben's via dolorosa with the corpse of Mikey is Ben's attempt to redeem himself for his reprehensible behavior (although the fact that Ben first takes Mikey's body to the Hoods' house in the novel is pretty reprehensible in itself.)

To the person who asked whether Paul and Mikey know one another (as, after all, they share no scenes together in the film), according to the book all four kids were once good friends (and shared the "Charles" joke, as a joke about (now late) Charles Nelson Reilly, who appeared on The Match Game at that time) but have started to drift apart.

"Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils."