I'm sure I missed some largely important plot point, but I still don't understand why Prior said "You can never come back." Could someone please explain? for a movie that seemed to be bent on having a happy ending, the least they could do was at least say why.
shareWhy couldn't Prior and Louis not get back together?It wasn't that Prior and Louis couldn't not get back together; it was that they couldn't get back together. They way you wrote it, it sounded like you thought they couldn't help but get back together, when actually the opposite was true.
God...He isn't coming back. And even if he did...If He ever did come back, if He ever dared to show His face, or his Glyph or whatever in the Garden again...if after all this destruction, if after all the terrible days of this terrible century He returned to see...how much suffering His abandonment had created, if He did come back you should sue the bastard. That's my only contribution to all this Theology. Sue the bastard for walking out. How dare He.
Prior has actually come to grips that who he thought Louis was, and who he actually is, is not the same thing(same thing goes for how Louis looks at himself, and who he actually is. Louis is shocked when he realizes all the ideals he had about his morals, are false) Prior can now see, the moment in his life, he actually needed Louis and his unconditional love and support, Louis only cared about Louis and left him. He will never be able to completely trust him again. As Maya Angelou said, "If someone shows you who they are, believe them.". My Mother also told me many times,"Anyone can be an angel and perfect when everything is fine. If you want to see who they really are, just watch them when things go wrong and how they handle themselves, and the choices they make."
This is how I feel today.
This is how I feel everyday!
I get this, but at the same time, this was the height of the AIDS crisis. What Louis did was awful. And he certainly didn't deserve to be welcomed back at all. And even if Prior didn't take him back, why still remain friends with someone? As far as I can see, you really have two choices when this happens: you ignore, forget and move on, or you take them back. Prior apparently remained friends with Louis which really doesn't make sense considering the circumstances. Not only had Louis done something terrible, but he also admitted that he did love him, and so did Prior. Doesn't seem like something you couldn honestly build a solid friendship on. Maybe a second chance relationship, but not a friendship. That's what I didn't get.
share[deleted]
I think it makes more sense for Prior and Louis to make up as friends, rather than as lovers. Generally, there are higher standards for being a lover than for being a friend. There are people that I would never want as lovers, but would like to have as friends.
The way I see it is Prior has forgiven Louis enough to like him as a friend, but not to like him as anything more than that. It's understandable that Prior wouldn't be able to disregard all of Louis' trangressions and take him back as a boyfriend, even if he could maintain a platonic friendship with him.
Louis killed the trust between them when he abandoned Prior at his greatest hour of need. Even though Prior managed to forgive Lois for leaving him like that, it doesn't mean that he trusts him enough to be in a relationship with him again. I don't blame Prior. I wouldn't trust Louis again either.
He also is very annoying.
I agree with the OP. Think about it:
The film actually features forgiveness for it's chief devil: Roy Cohn! They decide to say the Jewish prayer after he dies. That is basic human forgiveness - basic, admittedly, but it's still there. And yet Prior cannot forgive Louis ? Of course what Louis did was immoral, but so was everything that Cohn did, and at least Louis suffered for it - he was tormented over it, almost driven crazy with guilt, couldn't sleep, etc., and he ended up showing strength of character and morals in confronting Joe about his conservative writings and legal decisions and then charging back to Prior. I was disappointed Prior couldn't forgive Louis.
I also agree with whoever said Louis was annoying, because I found him that way too, and frankly could not understand why Prior would have been with him to begin with, but oh well ...
[deleted]
@bboinnng:
Wow, I think you're onto something there. Maybe the reason Belize asked Louis to say the prayer of forgiveness for Roy Cohn is because it would be showing Louis how hard it would be to expect Prior to forgive him. So, he goes humbly, ready and penitent. And it's clear that Prior forgives Louis. Maybe he didn't let him back into the romantic department of his heart anymore, but that was less a conscious decision, than a demonstration of the way Prior's heart works; like the rear exits of most movie theaters, once you leave, there is no handle to come back in.
The closest movies to my heart: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=46910443
Maybe the reason Belize asked Louis to say the prayer of forgiveness for Roy Cohn is because it would be showing Louis how hard it would be to expect Prior to forgive him.
Hey thanks, Thomasina for the background of the Kaddish prayer. That does make the recitation more powerful.
I still think that within the context of the movie/play it becomes a symbol of forgiveness, and that Louis' conflicting emotions regarding Cohn's death mirror Prior's conflicting emotions regarding his feelings for Louis.
The closest movies to my heart: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=46910443
The happiness of the ending comes from Prior understanding that we have to move forward. Prior loves Louis, but understands that he is weak. That's not going to change, and Prior has to move forward.
share[deleted]
MAYBE because Louis revealed himself for what he really was: A smug, pedantic, ivory-tower Marxist that, to use an old expression, RAN FOR THE HILLS when the going got tough. I thought one of the basic tenets of "Marxism" is/was a "We're all in this together/To each according to his needs" mindset. His lover was in a bad spot, so Louis took off & had anonymous sex in a public park. (Karl M & Trotsky would have been proud.)
WHY would anyone with any self-esteem want him back? Besides, his poli-pontificating was annoying as all heck...let the little weasel (Louis, not the actor playing him) move to North Korea.
[deleted]
re: I'm intrigued to know where your Marxist angle comes in. Please post back with your sources - I'm content to believe I may have missed something :)
The ending -- just before the one character breaks the 4TH wall & talks to the audience...Louis is going on about blah-blah-blah in his "Well this is way Marxism is SUPPOSED to work" manner.
Don't get me wrong -- K. Marx had some good ideas but they were (like Adam Smith's capitalism) GREAT IN THEORY but when you add "people" & their imperfections (greed, lust for power, dumbness, etc.) to the mix...oy.
RE: pedantry is an insult levelled against those who have knowledge of fine details by those who have been shown up by the demonstration of such knowledge.
Could be, but SELF-RIGHTEOUS PONTIFICATION (or, simply, "on a high horse") is a MAJOR DRAG whether it comes from Pat Robertson or Louis or ANYone with their "This world would be PERFECT if..." b.s. As the old saw goes, "It's not always what you say but the way you say it."
[deleted]