The section of the film with Kristen Stewart and newcomer Lily Gladstone is downright devastating. In other words filmmaking at its finest. Will leave a lump in your throat. This story line is the movie. Everything else is pointless. The film won't be everyone's cup of tea but it's so worth to watch Lily Gladstone in an astonishing performance. I was floored and perhaps others will be.For 2 Hours you will live inside this Film.
shareIt's touching, I agree. I loved Gladstone's character and wanted to hit Stewart's character at the end - she was so cold. She didn't even say sorry, thank you, goodbye...nothing. She barely looked guilty either; it seemed incredibly heartless to me. Why the drastic change? How did other people interpret that moment?
I’ll be waiting, with a gun and a pack of sandwiches.
I think Stewart's character was uncomfortable around an acquaintance who drove four hours overnight just to say goodbye to her. In the short story, I think the ranch hand kisses her on the cheak. I'm glad it was omitted from the film. That would've been too sexually charged or too Hollwood. I loved the restraint from the ranch hand and how Stewart's character is pretty much silent and doesn't give any reward. That scene drives home the point that it's about unrequited love. Also, watching the lawyer talking to another co-worker as the ranch hand was driving away made it seem like the were also separated by class.
It was so sad to see Gladstone on the brink of crying while driving away and then falling asleep soon after.
Yeah, that vignette was my favorite of the three. Gladstone really captured the innocent child quality of the character in the short story.
She didn't even say sorry, thank you, goodbye...nothing. She barely looked guilty either; it seemed incredibly heartless to me.
Beth was also willing to hang out with Jamie on more than one occasion at a diner, where Beth would offer Jamie some of her food, as Beth only ordered water. Jamie also admitted that she was a loner, so Beth was doing Jamie a favor by offering to keep her company.Yes and they seemed to be developing a friendship (the horse rides, etc). Jamie was really kind to Beth, and certainly didn't so anything inappropriate, but apparently Beth never really cared. That's the only thing I can interpret from her leaving so bluntly.
So of these two, the one who should have expressed thanks was Jamie, not Beth. And why did Beth have to apologize to Jamie for?"Thanks for coming down here", "Sorry for not saying goodbye"..? A decent person would have said these things.
perhaps silence on Beth's part was the best option in order not to encourage or hurt Jamie any furtherI'm assuming it was something on these lines. She really didn't want to see her, so she thought "I'd better not encourage her in any way". Being cruel to be kind, that sort of thing. But I can't understand why she felt so strongly; she looked annoyed that Jamie was even there...Or did I read that wrong?
I didn't sense that Beth was annoyed, she seemed confused. They weren't friends. She never told Jamie where she worked. She never told Jamie if she was married or involved with someone. The connection was all in Jamie's mind. If she had given Beth the directions to the diner, Jamie would never have alone time with Beth.
When Jamie went to collect the horse, leaving Beth standing in an dark, cold empty parking lot, Beth looked annoyed. I don't think she wanted to ride the horse, but was just being kind.
Sure Jamie was sweet, but there was no indication that Beth wasn't just as sweet. I think it suddenly dawned on Beth that Jamie thought a relationship was developing. A relationship based on a handful of conversations, with a relative stranger. Beth wasn't rude or unkind. She could have said something nasty or rude, many people would not have refrained. Instead Beth let Jamie save face and drive away.
I would agree with you. Beth wasn't unkind. She finds herself having to take this class 4 hours drive away so has no intention of investing personally in anything there. She's clearly exhausted with mo time to eat before teaching. She can't understand why Jamie us sitting in the diner if she isn't eating or drinking anything. She politely makes conversation with this awkward stranger and when Jamie suggests she come and see the ranch on their first evening Beth very politely explains she has to get home and get to bed after another 4 hour drive.
I think there is clear insensitive self-absorbtion shown by Jamie when she brings the horse, forcing Beth to have to sit in close proximity to her plus the slow walk of the horse is emphasised, the clip clop of the horses hooves slowly beating out each long second it takes to get to and from the diner which makes Beth even later. The lack of time us emphasised by the fact that she barely has time to eat her food before she has to leave.
Beth has no idea how much Jamie has fixated on her but this suddenly dawns on her when Jamie arrives in the parking lot that morning. I think Beth is puzzled by and wary of Jamie 's actions which probably add to her memory of the award horse ride.
I think Stewart plays this scene so well, being stunned by the other woman's actions and probably silently working through the fact that Jamie would have been in her truck overnight plus how much time and effort she would have spent finding out where she worked. Having all these questions in her mind, she chooses only to ask the obvious one of "you drove here?", thinking better than engaging this woman in any conversation which would only encourage her.
Lastly, it seems clear that Jamie didn't drive all that way to say goodbye but says she's chosen to make the journey so that she could continue to see Beth, saying that she would have to make that drive if she wanted to see her again. ..hinting that she would do that to enable their "relationship" to develop. Jamie 's mindset is the saddest part of this narrative.
I know it's been a couple of years since you posted this, but I think you hit the nail on the head here about Beth being taken by surprise and not knowing how to react. Back in the late 80s, a young man who was a coworker of mine developed a crush on me and suddenly asked me out in a rather awkward way. I was taken by surprise and didn't know what to say, especially because I wasn't attracted to him and found him a bit creepy. I ended up mumbling something, and because I felt awkward towards him, avoided him after that, which angered him. He actually stalked me for six years after that. Anyway, my point is, I understand Beth's reaction and think she acted the way a person would act in that situation.
shareSee, this is why I Love this website! I would have never looked at it from this point of view, and you are so so right!
shareI thought, after the initial shock of Gladstone's character showing up like that, that Stewart was thinking, "I'm being stalked." Which she was, in spite of the lonely angst that drove Gladstone to find her. Stalkers always think they have a good reason. It doesn't give the one being stalked any obligation to to be polite. In fact the opposite. How many school shooting have stemmed from unrequited stalkings?
shareI agree. I'm a film snob who isn't into cinema verite'. The other two stories were, to me, a great big, "Yeah? So what? What's remarkable about these?" I've been screwed over more than once by employers. The disabled guy story was not compelling, sympathetic or interesting. The entire, "Let's get some stones from that senile guy" storyline was a complete waste and entirely pointless.
shareThe sandstone story drove me over the edge. It was awful..Although I like the actors, it was written terribly. The best story was the last one. At least in this story,,,there was actual story. It was acted out perfectly by the actors.
shareThis contains spoilers.
I think the theme of this film was disconnection and loneliness. Lily Gladstone's story stuck with me the most. I think she is a loner and doesn't have much contact with other people, as evidenced by the repetitive scenes of her working alone on the ranch. I think she was craving human contact, which is why she wandered into the random class for teachers. She had an instant connection with Beth and perhaps she misread the signals and thought that Beth connected with her as well. Someone mentioned that she was insensitive in the scene with the horse because she made Beth wait for her to get the horse. I don't really think so. If you look at her face when she is bringing the horse over and then riding with her on the horse, she has such a look of pride on her face. She is showing off for Beth. This is her way of trying to impress her. She made herself even more vulnerable when she drove all the way to Livingston in order to find Beth. It may have seemed a little odd or desperate, but I think Jamie was desperate, and lonely. I think Beth could have handled it a little better, maybe been a little more kind or gentle in her response. But I think Beth was so overworked and in her own world that she didn't realize what was happening and how Jamie felt about her. The scene when Jamie is driving away just devastated me. It was heartbreaking and such a great piece of acting. The way her emotions changed in that one shot. She goes from confused, to sad then to angry. I thought Kristen and Lily were both wonderful and their story was the one that I thought about long after I left the theater. Lily deserves an award for her role, she was just beautiful.
Yes, Beth is so engrossed with the unfairness of her situation that she doesn't see Jamie as a person with needs. My point about the horse incident was that her excitement at sharing a part of her life by bringing a horse, "if she won't come to the ranch...etc", blinds her to Beth's real priority of getting home ASAP. It is this very pride in sharing the horse ( not just physically) that causes this blindness, despite Beth repeatedly talking about the length of the journey and demanding work schedule.
As needy and sympathy-stirring as Jamie's character is, she is equally self absorbed in her needs and desires. Her actions in tracking Beth down at work could be seen as naivety or stalkerish, either one causes Beth understandable perplexity.
I wish we didn't get a recap of the other stories at the end of the film and just stayed on that one shot of Gladstone driving off. Hell, the movie could have gone on for another 4 hours covering the entire drive back.
shareI didnt see a recap..I only saw Her driving off..Maybe there are other versions of the film.
shareAt the end there is one more go-round with each of the stories. I actually didn't care for the first story with Laura Dern, so I fast-forwarded through hers, but we get a final scene of the Sandstone lady admiring the stones stacked up in her yard. You get the sense, or I did anyway, that she's probably never going to do anything with those stones, same as the man and his brother never did anything with them the past 40-50 years. We get a final scene of the ranch girl just going about her business feeding the horses and cleaning stalls, which to me was an illustration of how we all have to keep on with life despite its disappointments.
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