This movie is really just THE SWIMMER (1968) retold
In another form. And not a better one.
shareI liked The Swimmer better, however I think Burt Lancaster is a superior actor to Bill Murray.
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MovieChat Forums > Broken Flowers (2005) Discussion > This movie is really just THE SWIMMER (1...
Just watched this movie on NETFLIX.
Actually, I really liked it until the end.
I was taking the story at face value and
I thought there might be some redemption for 'Don Johnston' should he be confronted by a son.
Your observation that this is a retelling of 'The Swimmer' is really excellent.
Like 'The Swimmer', every encounter 'Don Johnston' pursues gets darker and darker.
The first with Sharon Stone is welcoming and light and sexual, and then he is invited to an awkward dinner, then he gets a brush-off, next he gets a violent beating, and lastly he is at the graveyard weeping.
Good call, edgin15.
As I watched this movie, I had the same thought, that it was similar to The Swimmer. That was a very powerful film. It had a very tragic ending as the audience realizes Lancaster's reality. Burt Lancaster is an excellent actor so I don't think there's much room for interpretation in that film.
Broken Flowers is a bit more vague, so you can believe Don's life may be better for his journey and his development. It's also left open as to what, if anything, happens next.
Maybe. "Broken Flowers" is a lot more of a light-hearted comedy with serious undertones while "The Swimmer" is very heavy and tragic. "The Swimmer" might be a little better, but this movie is a lot easier to watch more than once.
Also, Burt Lancaster's character had destroyed his family with his womanizing while Bill Murray's character had only (arguably) wasted his own life (and you don't need to be a womanizer to do that). I don't think Murray is a any worse of an actor than Lancaster, but he's kind of a sad and laconic character in his serious movies and he seems kind of miscast as a womanizer since women don't generally throw themselves at sad and laconic men.
I don't think this is like The Swimmer at all. The Swimmer is about a mental health problem, after a man's life crumbles apart, and he doesn't remember it, as he goes along encountering people from his past, who in speaking, let unfold the man's past and how it fell apart for him.
Broken Flowers is about Johnston's lack of connecting with people, in his past, and continuing in the present, treating some people badly and with disrespect, throwing people away. But his life hasn't fallen apart at all. He got more successful through the years. And he remembers it all, even minor details. There are no conversations letting unfold how his life had fallen apart, etc. The people in The Swimmer that Lancaster encounters are not "broken" at all. They go on with their successful and happy lives. It is Lancaster who had a breakdown. In Broken Flowers, Johnston is doing all right, but the people he actively seeks from his past are, for the most part, "broken" in some way.
Not similar at all, except the lead characters look for or seek out people from their past. Beyond that, nothing is the same, seems to me.
Yes, and it also reminded me of the film Immortal Beloved. Same premise. . . knocking on many doors looking for someone.
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