Your point is this "I think it's pretty clear that by the end of the film, Ilsa is madly in love with Rick". Your opinion -- pretty clear only to you. No supporting argument, no reference to a character arc, just your own narcissism. Yours is a stupid and vapid infantile insistence, not even an argument, from authority. If that seems harsh, it is kind of deliberate for reasons explained below.
My point, that you either missed, or deliberately ignored or both, was this:
Rick got Ilsa on the rebound in a crazy world going to shit because of Nazis that had as far as Ilsa knew murdered her true love. In reaction Ilsa alone and traumatized wanted to escape from the horror of life and got involved with Rick for protection, and it made Rich feel manly and purposeful. How goddam deep do you think Ilsa's original feelings for Rick could be after a few weeks? You want to insist that Ilsa could love Rick in a deep way after knowing him for a few days or weeks right after her husband had died ... I think you better rethink that.
Rick did not understand. From Rick's point of view, it was perfect with Ilsa, but not in the deep sense that Ilsa loved Victor. When Ilsa left him he turned into the hollow person that he was, traumatized in his own way, in his own right. He had no moral core. Rick's arc was to become heroic and deserving of Ilsa - by letting her go. Amazing irony, the crux of the movie.
Rick grew as a person realizing the truth of the story of Victor and Ilsa, the true meaning of life, that their little lives don't mean much against the future of the world. It is a great story, but again I just say you don't get it, or rather you want to see it in your own way - and cannot even listen to someone else - which I guess works for you. I should not have to spoon feed you something to consider, and unless you want to consider what someone wrote - why read it, and why comment? You seemed just like the average posting lout on this site, which is why I am harsh towards your comment,
You show no sign of reading or understanding what I wrote, even though it is very clear and logical, and certainly more compelling than a vapid claim that it is obvious that Ilsa was madly in love with Rick, which is a childish argument.
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Otter (24464)
3 years ago
"You want to insist that Ilsa could love Rick in a deep way after knowing him for a few days or weeks right after her husband had died ... I think you better rethink that."
I never said that Ilsa loved Rick in a *deep* way, I said she loved him in a *passionate* way. Which is an intense feeling, but one that's totally based on sexual attraction and the illusion that one's real problems have gone away, and various other hormonal drives and misunderstandings. It's an intense feeling but usually temporary, and it probably would have been temporary with Ilsa if all of the problems she thought had gone away hadn't come crashing back with her husband turning up alive. If she'd stayed with Rick there are good odds they'd have broken up in a bit, but as she had to run and leave things hanging and re-enter the terrifying world of resisting the Nazis, of course there was regret for leaving the fun and escapism she'd experienced with Rick. And of course those feelings would come back to life when they got stuck in Casablanca, where they were living under a constant threat. So any sensible person could see why she might yearn to chuck it all and escape with Rick, but of course if they'd done that they'd both have been despicable and they'd have come to despise each other soon enough.
And AGAIN, none of that has any bearing on how Victor and Isla felt about each other in Casablanca, you think it was "true love" and I didn't see any sign of that, what with Ilsa being willing to leave her husband at the end.
You're the one who lacks reading comprehension, and any insight into normal human relationships. I hope you're as young as you come off, that'd be some excuse.
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