Towards the end ,the husband , Carlos leaves Laura alone , apparently to get some relief from the bizarre atmosphere. While he is away ,she works her way to reach the truth and dies in the process. Isn’t it a bit incongruous? Would any good husband have done like that ?
Carlos's decision to leave Laura alone in the house makes sense when you put it in character context:
Firstly, he doesn't consider her to be in any danger and why should he? He doesn't believe in the ghosts and as far as he's concerned he's just leaving her by herself in an empty house for two days. After all, from his perspective she is just going to sit in the house and mourn for her five friends. Secondly, he works away from home during the day(we are to assume) and if Laura is by herself thoughout most of the week anyway, this situation isn't very far from the norm- she was no threat to herself throughout those nine months following Simon's disappearance so two more days can't hurt. Thirdly, Carlos is the type of husband who seems to gives Laura everything she wants- it occurs that adopting Simon was her idea, and so was reopening the Orphanage- the script alludes to this very subtly so we don't initially figure out the sacrifices Carlos has had to make for Laura's benefit. When she asks him to leave her at the house, she makes it seem like after this she will finally lay her past to rest- "all I need is two days"... perhaps Carlos believes that once he has given her time to come to terms with what happened to her childhood friends he can finally get his wife back.
When one first watches the film, one does not get a very good impression of Carlos. What we do get is a portrait of a man who is never around, who doesn't listen to his wife and doesn't get involved with the child, and the story doesn't focus on what he has had to give up to let her get what she wants. What we also don't initially pick up on is just how selfish Laura is- why does she adopt Simon? Why does she relocate the family to her childhood home against Carlos's better judgement? And how she progessively shuts him out of her life more and more, when all he wants to do is protect her. When it comes down to the fact that she no longer wants his protection, what else can he do?
Thank you very much for the detailed analysis which is very illuminating
shareThere is no analysis needed. It's another stupid horror movie about a heroine/mother whose husband does not understand not attempts to understand her. She might as well have been a singel parent, it would make much more sense given the plot treatment. As it is now we're stuck with her bimbo husband. I swear in the end when he visited the haunted house I expected her ghost to kill his grining ass... he neglected her when she needed him the most, so what's he smiling about anyway??
As I was watching this movie, I was thinking "man, this woman has balls of STEEL!" If I were in her place, I would be OUT of there so fast... However, I asked my boyfriend (of seven years) what he would do in that situation...
"Why does she want to stay alone in the house?"
"Because she is looking for her son..."
"Oh.. Makes sense..."
"She thinks the ghost children kidnapped him but her husband doesn't believe her."
"I wouldn't, either."
Maybe it's true, he doesn't want to man up and stay with her but if he did, what would happen? I highly doubt that she would have gone through the same experience. After all, the medium said that only those who are closer to death can see things that may be invisible to the rest of the world. She referred to herself (medium) and Laura. Carlos was a doctor and in better health. I think he understood her pretty well. She just said she wanted to be alone to say goodbye. He couldn't have possibly predicted that she was going to re-create the scene of her childhood and then kill herself. He wasn't happy to leave her, but he had to because he was convinced it was what SHE needed.
When Laura and Carlos went to grief therapy, the counselor said that people often see ghosts of their loved ones recently lost coming back to comfort the living to make sure that they don't mourn too much. My interpretation was that Carlos saw Laura through the open doors and why wouldn't he smile? She was at peace.
There is no analysis needed. It's another stupid horror movie about a heroine/mother whose husband does not understand not attempts to understand her. She might as well have been a singel parent, it would make much more sense given the plot treatment. As it is now we're stuck with her bimbo husband. I swear in the end when he visited the haunted house I expected her ghost to kill his grining ass... he neglected her when she needed him the most, so what's he smiling about anyway??
You obviously didn't choose the right movie adapted to your low IQ since it passed way over your head.
yeah agreed, that bothered me as well. as if leave her all alone when she was so unstable :(
shareim not sure if she killed herself or choked on a pill.seemed like suicide tho which pissed me off.
shareShe was taking pills like they were sweeets, of course she was trying to kill herself. She wanted to be with the ghost of her son and her friends.
"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop."
Laura and Carlos at one time were very close. Remember the scene where she joins him in playing the piano? But when Carlos becomes convinced that Simon is dead and Laura not accepting that, the two are now becoming separate - they are no longer swimming in the same ocean so to speak. Carlos tells her that the both of them (he is still speaking in terms of a partnership) need to leave the house, she argues to the contrary and he stays. It is the second time that he says they need to go when she replies "just for two more days" (or something like that). Remember, he doesn't want her to stay alone. He senses something terrible might happen as it looks to him like she's "losing it" or going over the deep end. He doesn't stay with her because what good would it do? She's not going to change how she feels. Him leaving her is to me a foreshadowing of what certainly would have been an impending divorce had she come out alive.
And, OK, the film's writer and director needed to get her alone in the house. The final sequences would never have worked if Carlos had been around.
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Thanks
share