MovieChat Forums > While We're Young (2015) Discussion > So what's the intended message that they...

So what's the intended message that they


adopted a kid at the end of the movie?

I thought they were just fine without one. Josh just needed a re-direct to get his documentary back on track. And the sell-out dishonesty of the Jamie/Adam Driver character was enough, in my opinion, to get him back in focus.

Kind of a disappointment for me because I felt all the scenes with new parents (especially the excellently claustrophobic baby dancing/singing class) clearly indicated that the couple weren't in to parenthood - especially the current UberParenting culture that's sprung up in the last decade.

If the couple were 46 years when they adopted, they'll be in their mid-60s when the child graduates from high school. Not for me - but maybe for some.

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I think they were trying to convince themselves that they didn't want children, mainly because they had been unsuccessful up to that point. We know they had already tried multiple times. You can tell it's something that Josh still wanted by the way he was talking to his friend towards the end, and the wife just didn't want to go through another miscarriage. Adoption would make sense for them.

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?it happens, but it is rare when a married couple doesn't procreate or adopt.
I've seen them adopt dogs or cats to fill their life.

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yes that was a bit strange. nothing wrong with having kids but it seemed to be like "grown up people need to have kids".

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I agree.
I'm a new mother (36yrs) and had I watched this before I had my babies then this would have really upset me - as a 'grownup', then I would only be validated if I became a parent? Or to be happy to accept ageing but only with compensation of a baby?
I know they built in enough hints that his couple did particularly want children but hadn't been able to, but even so!

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I thought they were just fine without one.


I posted this in another thread, but it was completely clear to me from the moment that part of the storyline was introduced that every time Cornelia (Naomi Watts's character) claims to be happy to be childless, she is lying--not just to her husband and everyone else in her life, but also to herself. You just do not go through all the pain, trouble, and expense of fertility treatments if you don't want to have a baby, and you don't suddenly stop wanting to have a baby just because you can't afford the treatments any more.

I am surprised so few people seem to have understood the movie this way; I thought it was pretty clear, and made the adoption at the end predictable and almost inevitable instead of the huge surprise it seems to have been for some viewers.

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It does seem to me many people go wit what the character's say, rather than what is shown - it's as if people have little ability in reading media now. I am happy to notice that there seems to be many who do still pay attention to what is said with expression and tone, between the lines, and who noticed that they still clearly regret not having been able to have children. Of course they deny this, that is perfectly normal, you do not dwell on past disappointments but try to live on the best you can - even if it means lying to yourself and your partner at times. In real life people settle, things are left open, people go on and maybe sometimes wonder 'what if'... but it is a movie, a story, and so the adoption is one way of bringing some closure to the narrative. It is a logical end as well, I half feared Cornelia would get magically pregnant towards the end.

It is also clear that he has more wrong with his career than having to cut the film. It is like a variant of writer's block, he can't finish the film because he has somehow lost the thread, and we never know if he then finally did. The other almost unsaid thing is that Jamie is not that evil: Josh paints his fiction as monstrous fraud in his mind, but as the others point outat the dinner, Kent's story is still real. Many documentaries mix fiction and fact after all, it's practically a genre now. So yes, what he did was wrong but hardly the shattering horror Josh thinks it is. Neither is it uncommon for young, ambitious but a little insecure people to hide their ambition, fearing ridicule if they do not succeed. He asks the help of older people, who freely give it - again is that so bad? Both show a dark side of their character in the end, not just Jamie. Josh even does say it in the end - he isn't the devil, he's just young, or somethig like that.

I do wonder if the low rating is because most people just read the surface of the film. I thought it was good, at least. I liked the many subtle touches of humour, and the way all characters were flawed.

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Yes, it seems to me the movie is saying that middle aged people need to have commitment / monogamy and kids in order to feel fulfilled. And even as a middle aged dad I found it a little frustrating, since it's a Hollywood cliché that's reinforced again and again. It would have been nice to see While We're Young blaze a different trail.

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LOL

"Circle of life"!


 "Maybe it's another dimension. Or, you know, just really deep." --Needy

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Agreed.

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