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Is there a "Cache" connection to "Janet Planet???" (A 6 post message)

posted 11 days ago by joi2049 (5572)
5 replies | jump to latest

https://thecinemaholic.com/michael-haneke-cache-explained/

Is LACY like Pierrot:

"Pierrot senses an inaccessibility to his parents who seem to be so engrossed in their own professional and social intricacies"

Is JANET like Georges:

"our mind possesses the power to manipulate our historical reality, and more often than not, we repudiate the truth in favor of our own version of it."

Is there a Cache connection to Janet Planet???

CACHE (2005) is a film about BEING WATCHED ... and in JANET PLANET Janet tells AVI that she feels like her daughter Lacy is always "watching her."

And there's also an indication in Haneke's film that Pierrot (the young son of Georges and Anne) was also watching his parents (due to the way the film ends with Pierrot seen speaking to Majid’s son ... which might also imply they're co- conspirators who've manipulated the Georges character).

Does the CULT LEADER AVI also watch people like LACY does??? Don't they both also have a PUPPET show collection which may also symbolize or represent their manipulation of others???

Does the "TROLL Doll" Lacy is given (which she places into her puppet collection) represent Wayne? Later Lacy also places a small piece of the cover of the NEW YORKER Magazine (which formerly belonged to Regina) onto the wall of her puppet collection. Is this tiny little object meant to represent Lacy's getting rid of Regina the same way as she did Wayne?

Do the rest of Lacy's puppet dolls also represent others that Lacy manipulated and ran off ? At one point they also wear hats made out of the candy wrappers of her piano teacher ... who also had the Red Riding Hood doll ... which turns into the Grandmother when it's turned UPSIDE DOWN ... and it also turns into the face of the "BIG BAD WOLF" once you lift up the Granny's BONNET and turn the Doll around to face in the opposite direction.

Could Lacy also be a sly character in disguise like the Big Bad Wolf character? Be a clever child who manipulates the life of her mother and others as a way to try to keep what she sees as other Wolves away?

When Lacy shows up at the place where Regina works selling ice cream, note the way Regina avoids Lacy. Because once she sees Lacy standing in line, Regina suddenly disappears and is replaced by another employee. Then we also see Lacy watching Regina smoking a cigarette as she walks along the side of a road in front of a huge barn.

And still later on Lacy comes home with lots of ICE CREAM STAINS all over the front of her T-shirt (a situation which she also dismisses as being no big deal ... after her mother asks if she's ok ... and wants to know what's happened to her). Is it possible those stains were the result of some kind of a hostile encounter that took place between Regina and Lacy that day?

Also Note the way Lacy sits there "watching" as one of Avi's other cult members (who played the drums at Avi's puppet show) collects Regina's belongings for her (including the cover of the NEW YORKER Magazine that he removes from the wall ... which was attached to the wall with a piece of cellophane tape ... before Lacy then removes it and then attaches what's left of it to the wall of her puppets). Does this represent a victory trophy for Lacy? Is it a symbol of still another opponent that Lacy has defeated the way she did Wayne when she gets rid of him?

Also note the way Lacy spies on and "watches" Regina speaking to AVI from an open window up above before we see Regina leave with him. Why does Regina have the drummer collect her things? Is Lacy the reason why she's reluctant to enter the house and gather them herself? Does she fear having still another hostile encounter with Lacy?

Still another thing to note is when Regina orders Lacy and her mother not to answer their own phone, how Lacy chimes in to say the call could be for them (to which Regina responds by saying let the call go to voice mail). And this also happens right before Regina gives Janet some kind of drug that she claims would help them sleep, which also leads to the argument with Janet over the awful tastes that Regina says Janet has in the men she dates.

Is it possible Lacy represents another version of the young Pierrot in Cache and/or AVI? Could she also grow up to become a manipulative CULT LEADER like Avi one day? Or could she become an alienated adult like the Georges character in Haneke's CACHE story ... who at the age of 6 also manipulates Majid ... the young child that his mother plans on adopting ... by getting rid of him by plotting against him ... the same way as Lacy does Wayne and Regina???

In other words, was Lacy deliberately acting out as a way to get rid of Wayne & Regina the same way as Georges got rid of Majid? (By lying about using Regina's shampoo and leaving her hair on the shower wall, spending almost an hour sitting on the toilet to keep Regina from using the shower, repeatedly asking Wayne why his daughter doesn't live with him, etc.)???

[–] joi2049 (5572) 11 days ago

Did Lacy also get rid of Avi as well when she suggested that her mother "STOP TRYING" to make men fall in love with her???

Janet: “I’ve always had this knowledge that I can make any man fall in love with me, if I tried. And think it’s sort of ruined my life.”

Lacy: “Can you stop… Stop trying.”

At least Wayne didn't slash open his throat like Majid did on the night when he appears in Janet's yard and prostrates himself (as both Lacy and her mother secretly watch him from the window up above). Later on we also see Lacy doing the same thing when she prostrates herself in front of her puppets (after she's also seen her mother doing the same thing ... by repeatedly making a pledge to be more truthful with herself about her self-image):

Janet: "Truth before Ego ... before the desire to be liked ... which is a very female thing ...

My own liberation depends upon the ability to put truth before the desire to be liked ... the desire to be loved ... to put truth before Ego.

My own liberation depends upon my willingness to see truth beyond my own self-image."

Unfortunately the Georges character in CACHE never makes any such pledge to himself about his self-image. '

Once again The Cinemaholic article describes the way the mind of GEORGES works:

https://thecinemaholic.com/michael-haneke-cache-explained/

"our mind possesses the power to manipulate our historical reality, and more often than not, we repudiate the truth in favor of our own version of it."

After Regina offers Janet the drugs, we witness her attempt to repudiate the truth. But later on ... after her encounter with Avi ... (which takes place after her confrontation with Regina ... and her other conversation with her daughter Lacy) ... Janet also seems to have changed her mind about accepting the truth about herself ... instead of repudiating it ... the way that Georges does in Cache ... (when he takes a drug in an attempt to HIDE the truth from himself about himself).

But then the JANET PLANET story also ends with what appears to be an anxious Lacy sitting there wondering if the dancing that she observes her mother doing will lead to her bringing home still another unwanted person with whom to share their home.

The Cinemaholic article nicely sums up the situation for us:

https://thecinemaholic.com/michael-haneke-cache-explained/

"knowledge of our children and our parents is always inadequate."

In other words, Janet appears to WAKE UP to the truth about herself, whereas Georges goes back to SLEEP again and ignores it. However, in the ending scene we're also presented with the possibility that the AWAKENING of Janet may also only be a temporary situation rather than a longer lasting life lesson.

Continued in the next message:

[–] joi2049 (5572) 11 days ago

Whatever the case may be, both CACHE and JANET PLANET remain "open ended" stories where it's up to the viewer themselves to decide how to interpret what they've seen happening in them.

So do you think Janet's liberated herself by the end of the story?

Do you think Lacy will end up being an "alienated" adult like Georges, or become a manipulative cult leader like Avi?

Keep in mind how she deliberately LIES to Regina about not using her shampoo or putting her hair on the shower wall. And she may also have "HIDDEN" the truth from her mother about whatever happened the day when she "watches" Regina walking along the road and then comes home with ice cream all over her T-shirt.

So perhaps the question to ask LACY is the same one that she's asked her mother:

“Can you stop???"

"Stop trying" to alienate others (like Wayne, Regina, and Avi) because of the way that your mother too easily falls in love with them???

And didn't Georges also alienate Majid due to the way that his mother fell in love with him???

Could his son Pierrot have acted out as a way to get rid of some of the dinner guests and other friends of his parents who annoyed him the way the friends of Janet did Lacy???

“The thing that actually made me think, I want to write this movie, was picturing evaporating your mother’s boyfriend with your brain. I remember feeling that way at eleven, as though I had a little wizard brain. And I have met a lot of eleven-year-olds now, from my auditioning process, and they all have wizard brains. I really feel like they’re all wizards. So, what if spiritual longing and destructive desire and love for one’s mother and the power of inanimate objects could all be harnessed to evaporate a mother’s potentially nefarious new boyfriend? That was what the movie was about for me.”

~ Annie Baker

[–] joi2049 (5572) 9 days ago

Still more thoughts:

Although Lacy didn't literally "evaporate" Wayne or Avi with her mind, it is still very curious how BOTH Regina and Avi suddenly and very mysteriously DISAPPEARED in 2 scenes.

Regina suddenly disappears when Lacy shows up at her place of employment and Regina sees her standing in line for some ice cream (which also indicates she obviously didn't want to have an encounter with Lacy for some reason).

Avi suddenly disappears after reading a poem to Janet at a picnic dinner (after we've also seen Lacy prostrate herself before her puppets ... perhaps praying to them to help her get rid of him).

And since we also saw Wayne SLAM the door in Lacy's face prior to Janet breaking up with him, one can't help but wonder if the same kind of an overheated and hostile encounter that took place between Wayne and Lacy could have also taken place between Lacy and Regina as well.

Janet to Lacy: "You have a kind of — a forthrightness, you have a kind of aggressive quality

Lacy to Janet: “Every moment of my life is hell... I don't think it will last though."

Is the reason why Lacy "doesn't think it will last" is because of her knowledge that her plans to get rid of the friends and lovers of her mother's that she doesn't like always seem to work out for her???

Janet to Lacy (about Avi): It really surprised me how nice he was ... I thought he'd be a Narcissistic artist type of guy.

Why does Janet consider an Artist to be Narcissistic?

What if her daughter also becomes an Artist one day as well???

Would that also put Lacy at risk of becoming Narcissistic???

🤔

Also Found this interesting article:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/great-news-artist-share-common-traits-with-psychopaths_n_571fa9d1e4b0f309baeed0b1

A recent study published in the Personality and Individual Differences journal concluded that you may want to be wary of the artists, actors, and musicians in your life, seeing as they often share certain neuropsychological features with individuals exhibiting "psychopathic traits."

creative individuals often exhibit higher levels of emotional disinhibition, as well as dishonesty and risk-taking.

Is it possible Janet Planet could have painted for us a portrait of an 11 yr old on her way to becoming a psychopath???

In MARE of EASTOWN, the actress who portrays the part of JANET was also the mother of another young child who was arrested for murder.

And in HBO's other show called SHARP OBJECTS we also encountered another 13 yr old psychopathic killer.

If we get a much desired SEQUEL story to JANET PLANET, what can be done to keep Lacy from also resorting to murder as a way to get rid of some of the unwanted friends and lovers of her mother???

As you may recall, the reason why the 13 yr old in SHARP OBJECTS kills the other young girls was so that she could decorate the bathroom FLOOR of her DOLL HOUSE (which was a miniature version of her mother's house) with their teeth.

Hopefully things won't progress to the point where Lacy also does the same kind of thing???

FYI:

If you have access to HBO/MAX, at the 7:56 TIME MARK you can also see a "very creepy looking ceramic character" that has ears that look like the horns of a devil, and it also has a HUGE tongue that extends out of its mouth and way down past it's feet.

And there's also the head of another Body-less creature sitting on top of a book next to it. And both of them also sit on the shelf that sits on top of the theater area with the curtain Lacy closes.

And Lacy also winds up the Music Box that plays Mozart ... which displays the hands of a PUPPET MASTER manipulating what looks like a couple of ballet dancers.

And when she adds the TROLL DOLL to her PUPPET COLLECTION it also has CENTER STAGE, and stands next to a chubby looking lady in pink (actually a salt shaker) over to the right side, and next to another WEIRD looking character on the left hand side (who looks like they have an ice cream cone shaped head and are wearing some oversized sunglasses on their chest area).

There's also a tiny little boy in the collection ... and an even smaller girl ... and another strange looking yellow colored character on the far right hand side of the stage. And to the far left hand side there's also a brown faced character with yellow hair that sits next to a Buddha looking character.

And there's also a GRANDFATHER CLOCK and a piano seen on her PUPPET stage.

At the 26 TIME MARK you can also see the BLUE HAIRED TROLL DOLL has been removed from the CENTER STAGE area and sits over to the far right hand side of the stage (which also allows the PINK LADY to have CENTER STAGE again).

Around the 46 TIME MARK the PUPPETS are sleeping, and we see Lacy cover one of them up with a blanket that's fallen off of them.

At the 108 TIME MARK we see a Grandfather type of clock hanging on the wall of her piano teacher and then see Lacy examine the RED RIDING HOOD DOLL that sits on the couch.

[–] joi2049 (5572) 7 days ago

What on Earth could that "Creepy Ceramic Creation" (located at the 7:56 TIME MARK) with the HUGE TONGUE ... that we see sitting on the top shelf ... over top of the theater area ... possibly symbolize for Lacy? It's so strange looking that she must have also made it herself.

Notice how when we first meet Lacy she "manipulates" her mother by calling her and threatening to kill herself if she doesn't come and get her at the summer camp where she's staying. The next morning when her mother arrives to pick her up, we also learn Lacy's "LIED" to her campmates and her camp counselor (by telling them she's leaving because Wayne's been in a motor cycle accident). And she also refuses to let them meet her mother (most likely from her fear that they might discover she's LIED to them).

And after Lacy changes her mind and wants to stay there at the camp, Janet replies saying she can't because she's already gotten part of her money back again and that Lacy's behavior is also part of a "BAD PATTERN" (meaning she's also behaved this way before).

Still later on she also "LIES" to Regina claiming she hasn't used her shampoo or put her hair on the shower wall. And she may also have LIED to her piano teacher about not practicing that much the week when her instructor says she could tell she'd been practicing more.

Since "LYING and AGRESSION" (like the hostility that we saw Lacy display with Wayne) are also traits of kids with psychopathic tendencies, the theory that Lacy's could use some therapy seems to have some validity. Perhaps Janet also doesn't believe in therapy (in the same way as she rejects the use of antibiotics)??? It is odd she wouldn't seek help for a daughter who threatens to kill herself (and may also have done so before if it's a part of the BAD PATTERN that she mentions).

In addition to the "Lies and Aggression" issues Lacy exhibits, this article also addresses the other issues of her "NOT having Friends:"

https://www.momjunction.com/articles/signs-of-psychopathy-in-kids-causes-treatment_00762512/#:~:text=Indifference%20towards%20others%2C%20narcissism%2C%20and%20risky%20or%20thrill-seeking,with%20the%20help%20of%20the%20YPI%20test%20questionnaire.

Do children with psychopathy have friends?

“They can have friends, but maintaining meaningful and lasting relationships is often difficult. This is because children with psychopathy lack empathy, making it hard for them to connect with others on an emotional level. Additionally, their willingness to manipulate and take advantage of people can lead to mistrust among potential friends.”

So perhaps this article might also explain the mystery behind Lacy's not having any friends?

At the 48:50 TIME MARK:

Regina: Wouldn't you rather be hanging out with your friends?
Lacy: I don't have any friends.
Regina: Why?
Lacy: I don't know. It's a complete mystery to me.

Lacy to Wayne at the 19 min TIME MARK:

I usually have a hard time making friends.
------------------------------------------

Does anyone else have any thoughts they'd care to share???

[–] joi2049 (5572) 6 days ago

Do you think Wayne was a nice guy? This is how one critic describes him. But note the way his daughter begs several people that she doesn't even know for money at the mall. Why wouldn't she ask her father for some money instead of strangers? Was it because he had no job and stayed with Janet "rent free" (the same way as Regina did)?

Also note the way Wayne doesn't respond when his daughter kisses him goodbye. No "see you next week," or "I'll call you soon," or anything. Likewise, Sequoia also doesn't respond back to Janet either when she told her "it was so nice meeting her." And, as far as we know, it was only Lacy that Sequoia spends most of her time with during her visit with them that day.

And what about Lacy's father? Why is there never any mention of him? We also don't see any photos of him on display or see any pictures of Janet's parents either. In Lacy's room there's a photo of a hand on a book and a horse (we see these images right before the close up of the Creepy Ceramic Creature). And there's that other blurry looking image of what might be a woman with a child seen hanging on the bedroom wall (at the 29:12 TIME MARK).

Since Janet tells Regina she was with someone named Will for 3 yrs (before he moved to New Mexico to be near his grandkids), could he have created the blurry image? Could the image be his interpretation of Janet with Lacy? Before he moved away, did he ever invite Janet to move with him to NM? Is Will the reason why Janet said she was concerned Avi might be a "Narcissistic Artist type?"

And why would Janet want to get involved with someone that Regina just broke up with? When they're high on drugs (and after Regina claims what she said to Janet about not kidding herself about her terrible taste in men was said out of love for her), Janet lets Regina know she doesn't think love was involved in Regina's remark (which she also describes as "Stepping on her Toe)."

Likewise, how is love for her friend involved with Janet dating Regina's former boyfriend? Janet also begins a relationship with Avi because he said he wanted to discuss why he broke up with Regina, but then Janet told Lacy they never discussed the matter (probably because Avi was too busy saying the same kind of goofy stuff that we later hear him saying to Janet and Lacy at the dinner table ... which also makes him sound like he's taken the same drugs Regina gave to Janet). Whatever the case may be, doesn't dating Avi feel more like a backstabbing betrayal of Regina?

If we do get a sequel to this wonderful story, here's hoping we'll also get to see another confrontation taking place between Janet and Regina, and also see one between Regina and Lacy. Perhaps, for instance, Lacy could ask Regina why she didn't gather together and collect her belongings herself when she left? Then Regina could explain how she didn't want to have another hostile encounter with Lacy again like the one they had on the day when Lacy visits her place of employment before coming home with ice cream stains all over her shirt.

Maybe the "forthright" Regina could also suggest that Janet get Lacy some much needed therapy due to the kind of lies she tells. And it could also be interesting to see Lacy and Sequoia end up together in some kind of a group therapy session, a place where we might also be able to discover some other things about their parents that were kept "HIDDEN" from us in Janet Planet.

This is also what makes "Janet Planet" and the "Cache" (meaning HIDDEN) film so outstanding ... is the way that both stories are so open-ended that the questions we have about the characters in them seem to be never ending.