MovieChat Forums > Le passé (2013) Discussion > is guilt really so important?..

is guilt really so important?..

posted 11 years ago by alexander-akrivos
21 replies | jump to latest

i just saw the movie.i found it very interesting.but most of the story evolves around the effort of the characters to find out if samir'wife killed herself because she found out that her husband was having an affair.although i find it very logical to be a concern in their lives,it's not so interesting in the movie.that is ,because the truth lies elsewhere.and we never hear the truth.after depression has his wife lost all interest,and although he loves her she drifted away?but we hear info that tells us that maybe she was jealous(for example jealous of his employee).so she was functionable.was the couple just having problems because of the depression,and samir started looking elsewhere?..and the fact that july feels guilty is logical,partly because she is young and sensitive.the fact is she did not do anything really important.the affair would have been discovered one way or another.the only important question is asked by marie and samir on their talk at the end."can we forget and move on?"truth is also that samir still loves his wife.he loves two women.another truth is that marie is irresponsible.because she started an affair with a married man.because she already have a lot of problems.having two kids from different fathers and being pregnant with a third one from another father.and she is thinking of having a new life with someone who loves his previous wife.with all this mess it is kind of difficult to come to their place and understand them fully.but the movie still asks some pretty interesting questions and is very well acted and directed.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] alexander-akrivos 11 years ago

hello.as you probably know imdb is an international site.and a chance for people ALL over the world to express their different point of view.so english is not my native language.if it is too much trouble for you to read my review then don't.if however you CAN read and understand what i am writing,even if you find vocabulary errors,you should try to get over it and respond.and stop playing the teacher.by the way,please respond in the greek language.a teacher as great as you ,should not have any problem doing so...

ps:please do not respond.i was kidding.i am not interested in the least of what you have to say.

[–] LMorland 11 years ago

Well, when I write in a language not my own, I try to observe the rules of the language. In your case, even though your English is at a high level, your posts are very difficult to read for a native English speaker, because you ignore two basic conventions of written expression.

If you'd just observe these two simple conventions, it would go a long way to facilitating dialogue. That is:

(1) Capitalize the first letter of the first word of every sentence.

(2) Put at least once space (most English speakers put two) at the end of every sentence.

Thank you.

[–] letess 11 years ago

Your comments were unnecessary. Just read the thoughts behind the message.

[–] LMorland 10 years ago

I respectfully disagree. It's a convention of written English, and when it is not observed, it makes it VERY DIFFICULT for some people to read... particularly people with dyslexia or other reading impediment. Even without such a problem, it took me twice as long to read the post in question as it would have, had the writer observed the two rules I mentioned.

I'm sure I'm not alone. Putting a space or two after a period and capitalizing the next letter is not so hard to do.

Furthermore, the reason I mentioned it in the first place is that the writer had previously been insulted by someone for his "bad English." In truth, his English is not bad at all... just very difficult to read.

[–] ilutrov 10 years ago

I don't have dyslexia and I found the post almost unintelligible, which is something I'm sure the OP didn't intend. What a strange way to write.

http://imdb.com/user/ur2019270/ratings

[–] masturcide 11 years ago

Somewhere in that... text... I think you figured out the answer. Now, just like your post, it just needs to be sorted out.

They want to know who to blame... because they cannot bear the burden of being the ones who caused all of this. They deflect their guilt until there is no one left to blame but themselves. Irresponsible.

[–] danisa22 11 years ago

"having two kids from different fathers" I think you are wrong in this point. Both girls had the same father.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] RussMeyer1 11 years ago

Nope, they hadnt.

[–] LMorland 11 years ago

Why do you say that? Because of their difference in age?

I believe that Lucie and Léa, Marie's daughters, do have the same father, thanks to the scene in their bedroom where they discuss the possibility of moving to Bruxelles to live with him. The younger girl, Léa, declqres that she will go to Bruxelles if Lucie does. Lucie replies that it's not a good idea. Then Léa says something on the order of "Dad's wife is weird." (I tried to catch the French for "weird," but I missed it. That was the adjective used in the subtitle, though, I'm sure of that.)

[–] RussMeyer1 11 years ago

> Why do you say that? Because of their difference in age?

No, I say that because the girl said "your father..." when the two were alone in the room. She could have said just "father" if they had a common father.

[–] LMorland 11 years ago

Hmmm... I do not recall Léa saying your father (and I saw the film just last night).

We need to see a copy of the script.

[–] LMorland 11 years ago

Okay, I just bought the film from Amazon. It took me 45 minutes to find the scene in question, but it starts at 1:26:52.

Léa whispers to Lucie, "T'veux aller chez Papa?" ("You want to go live with Dad?") "Si tu vas, j'irai avec toi." ("If you go, I'll go with you.") After Lucie demurs, Léa adds, "C'est un peu spécial, cette femme de Papa." ("Dad's wife is a bit weird.")

The transcriptions from the French dialogue are mine, and the English is copied directly from the subtitles.

[–] RussMeyer1 11 years ago

Strange. Why was that so important for you? You went to great lenghts to unearth the truth?

[–] LMorland 11 years ago

Are you European? Because if you are,then it's not such a strange way to say, "Sorry, I was wrong."

If you're American, your response to my "correction" is odd indeed!

[–] RussMeyer1 11 years ago

Let's not get personal, shall we? I have no interest in petty ad hominem. The details of my identity are on my profile page and I share info as much as I want to, not more. Now please back off. Thank you.

[–] mamlukman 11 years ago

[spoiler]It's a lot more than that. I think the point is that because the past IS the past, you can't know it exactly. Who is to blame? Ahmad? Marie? The girl? The shop girl? The wife in the coma? You could argue each of them is to blame to some degree. One of the keys to the movie is when they are blaming the children for getting the presents out of the suitcase. The girl actually gets the present out, but Samir says to his son Fouad: "You could have stopped her. You are to blame too." The same thing is true for the bigger problem in the movie--each person had the power to stop the suicide of Ahmad's wife, including his wife herself. But no one stopped what was going to happen--they each contributed. Finally, Ahmad doesn't know if his wife ever read the e-mails--maybe the shop girl is right: if she did read them, why would she swallow poison in front of the shop girl instead of Marie? But he doesn't know, and he will never know. So the lesson of the movie is: Let the past go and move on.

[–] danisa22 11 years ago

Excellent reply. I believe it gets to the essence of this excellent movie.

[–] MuchToBeGratefulFor 11 years ago

So the lesson of the movie is: Let the past go and move on.

Hmmm, what I took more from the movie is that it is near impossible to let the past go. Samir tells Marie just that, they need to move on because she is carrying their child, but she still has feelings for Ahmad, and the last scene shows that he still cares deeply for his wife. I think the past is going to haunt both of them, and their relationship, going forward.

You must be the change you seek in the world. -- Gandhi

[–] yurenchu 9 years ago

So the lesson of the movie is: Let the past go and move on.

If we don't learn from the past, we're bound to make the same mistakes in the future.

Marie's unstable character and manipulative behavior was affecting and crossing over to Lucie. And Samir's character was affecting and starting to cross over to Fouad.

______
Joe Satriani - "Always With Me, Always With You"
http://youtu.be/VI57QHL6ge0