Great piece about a film I (shamefully) haven't seen but now very much feel like I should seek out.
I was interested by the thoughts on whether the relationship might have been abusive in some way and what that means for the reading of the film. Do you think that impulse to rationalise or contextualise behaviour is something that's grown over the years (maybe even since Morvern Callar was made), or was it always there? Just wondering if I could imagine a version with Barbara Stanwyck as a straight villain.
Ah I hope you get a chance to see it! It is showing on the big screen in Bristol / Watershed Cinema at the end of the month, if you're anywhere near there.
I think that there's something in Lynne Ramsay's style as a filmmaker - you'll know if you've seen any of her movies, I think - that is incredibly oblique and glancing and invites engima. And I think that's part of the point, but it also does encourage audiences to then wonder among themselves about those details which are so intentionally left vague. It's a conversation I had with friends after I saw it at the cinema recently at BFI, so that's what got the wheels turning. I do think to over-explain is sometimes to risk spoiling a thing, though: that's why I think suggesting Morvern's boyfriend was DEFINITELY abusive is probably a silly way to look at it.
The psychiatrist at the end of Psycho problem! Also, I think ascribing everything to an external factor risks giving false comfort - you don’t have to be bought into the whole original sin thing to see that people aren’t always reacting to circumstance in any kind of logical way.
Great piece about a film I (shamefully) haven't seen but now very much feel like I should seek out.
I was interested by the thoughts on whether the relationship might have been abusive in some way and what that means for the reading of the film. Do you think that impulse to rationalise or contextualise behaviour is something that's grown over the years (maybe even since Morvern Callar was made), or was it always there? Just wondering if I could imagine a version with Barbara Stanwyck as a straight villain.
Ah I hope you get a chance to see it! It is showing on the big screen in Bristol / Watershed Cinema at the end of the month, if you're anywhere near there.
I think that there's something in Lynne Ramsay's style as a filmmaker - you'll know if you've seen any of her movies, I think - that is incredibly oblique and glancing and invites engima. And I think that's part of the point, but it also does encourage audiences to then wonder among themselves about those details which are so intentionally left vague. It's a conversation I had with friends after I saw it at the cinema recently at BFI, so that's what got the wheels turning. I do think to over-explain is sometimes to risk spoiling a thing, though: that's why I think suggesting Morvern's boyfriend was DEFINITELY abusive is probably a silly way to look at it.
The psychiatrist at the end of Psycho problem! Also, I think ascribing everything to an external factor risks giving false comfort - you don’t have to be bought into the whole original sin thing to see that people aren’t always reacting to circumstance in any kind of logical way.