Writer: Lars Von Trier
Director: Lars Von Trier
Starring: Björk, Catherine Deneuve
Synopsis
A woman has a pretty shitty life, but she has a goal and she's working toward that goal slowly and deliberately. Then she gets totally screwed over by a pig but she maintains some nobility.
The Woman
i recognize that this was a good movie. but it's good in the way that "monster's ball" or "requiem for a dream" was good. once or never is enough for me. shitty life. shitty death. suffering. all around shittyness. there's enough for everyone! come gather round and i'll tell you a story of a woman who was going blind, lost her job, her savings which she was saving for a life changing operation for her child were stolen, lost her living quarters, is railroaded and taken advantage of everywhere she goes, and when she decides to actually stick up for herself she ends up being convicted of murder and sent to the gallows. it's just a little uplifting story to tell the kiddies. yay for blindness. yay for bjork.
MOster
Through the four sessions of, "is he awake again?" I really liked this movie. It is, as my woman points out, not the sort of thing you come across on the guide and say, "Oh, let's put this on for a few minutes," but it's pretty great, and well over the "unique enough" line.
Intentionally shot to look like a low-rent episode of Dateline I found a good portion of verisimilitude here. I really liked how the picture was fuzzier when we were looking through her eyes. I think that the musical numbers were a neat jab at the idiocy inherent in movie musicals while showing that she was able to find joy through all the crappiness of her existence. She doesn't come across as being terribly intelligent and I think that that unfairness is intentional, because I do think that she knew what was going on. I could totally see this story happening in reality, especially because I choose to believe (and I might have missed) that the story was set at least ten years earlier than its release date.
The sadness that drives the beauty here is embodied by her actions at the end of the movie. She eschews a second chance so she can give her kid a first one Her decision not to see him led me to real questions of morality. I can see how she would want to make that kind of a clean break and not expose her son to all the crap, but I don't know if I would be strong enough. It wears on her, though, and we can see the struggle. But in the end she recognizes the futility of her situation, and that might be the most depressing part of all.
Finally, to lighten the mood (really just for my woman), Douche!
I saw this years ago, and though I agree that after a while, one does not want to see this type of movie by choice any longer, I thought it was great. Bjork was OUTSTANDING in this movie ( and I even enjoyed the singing portions, and I HATE musicals) I remember that in an interview of her, post movie, she said acting was the hardest thing she'd ever done, and she wouldn't do it again. Pretty awesome first and last gig. Also, maybe it was the timing of when I saw it, bub I literally sobbed for the last 20 minutes or so of this movie. Sobbed, not just shed a tear. And that is unusual for me.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think I would have been more invested--and therefor have had a greater outpouring of emotion at the end--had we watched it in one go. But it definitely left me with something.
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