MovieChat Forums > The Invitation (2016) Discussion > I don't think the characters were stupid...

I don't think the characters were stupid at all

posted 8 years ago by Nolafilmmaker
2 replies | jump to latest

I know a lot of people have said the characters were stupid for not leaving when Eden and David started acting strange, but I think their decision to stay makes perfect sense. First, most people would never expect their friends or family members to try and kill them - even if that person is acting a little off. I think this was a big factor in why they chose to stay - because they had a history will Eden and David, and by all accounts, that history was great prior to them acting strange.

Think about it: if someone goes on a first date and that date is acting weird, most people probably won't call them back. They don't know anything about the person and don't have a prior good history which would make them at least try and figure out what's wrong. If someone has been in a very happy relationship for years, and suddenly their spouse starts acting strange, most people don't break up at the first sign of trouble. They try to work things out, see if their suspicions may be unfounded, etc. If that doesn't work, then they break up.

Most of the other people had a long history with Eden and David, and probably never in a million years suspected a friend would try to kill them - even if that friend started acting strange. So that's why they stayed.

Also, the context in which Eden and David started acting strange has to be taken into account. Even Ben said "I'm all for whatever you gotta do to get by." Most people picked up on Eden and Ben acting strange, but also gave them the benefit of the doubt because Eden lost a son, and her strange behavior was her way of dealing with it - even if that meant living in denial.

Just my thoughts.

[–] pennilayne 8 years ago

totally agreed and also it's very realistic in human behavior to be afraid of confrontation and people very often will sit through an uncomfortable party/dinner/event literally dying inside which to them is less scary than saying they want to leave. people like claire are rare who have the balls to just be like nope, dont care what people think, im out. when i was wathching i was thinking that would be me though. but its totally realistic. and people do this in situations with people they dont even know well most of the time let alone best friends they trusted for years. and also we as an audience see the situation even creepier than they do-- the creepy music, all of it happening at once in front of us. not in the moment, with good friends and wine. people are just not thinking about it enough. really putting themselves in their shoes for longer than a second. they are like i would have left!! i get it. i would have too. maybe lots of people would be the "claire's" but also lots of people wouldn't. until you're really in that situation you dont know what you'd do. so many of these people claiming these people are idiots etc... if they were in the same exact situation with their *best friends* who they trusted for years and felt so bad for that were grieving, would they really leave? and feel comfortable to just take off from this important dinner their good friends wanted them to be at? doubt it.

[–] Movie_Buff_Brad 8 years ago

Also take into account that these are a bunch of limousine liberals in LA, where it's considered worse to disrespect someone's beliefs than to rape a 13 year old girl. Of course they're gonna act like Will is the one being weird.