Has it struck anyone else that Lisa was totally self-absorbed?
She deserted everyone in her life, in order:
1) Her mother
2) Stefan (1st time)
3) Her husband
4) Her son
5) Stefan (for the 2nd time)
Both Stefan and Lisa paid the price, but really only Lisa had behaved atrociously. Call it love if you like, but it really boils down to a regard for her own feelings at the expense of everyone elses.
I don't even know where to begin, Lisa might not be a sympathetic figure most casual movie-viewers want their heroine to be, but I found many criticism this board has on her is way too harsh and bias, mostly they judge her behaviour based on the more of *today's* society. So let's look at the people you accuse Lisa deserting
1) Her mother - I don't know exactly where you think Lisa deserted her mother, I assume it is when she moved back to Vienna by herself. However, in her days women reaching her age is supposed to be married, since Lisa rejected the man her parents picked for her, she had better found a way to support herself. Staying with your parents unmarried would be an bigger dishonor than deserting them as you said
2) Stefan (1st time) - you mean when she has to follow her mother to move to Linz as she got remarried? What is she supposed to do when she was a school girl?
3) Her husband - this is the only one you can somewhat say she deserted, however, I think what the movie tried to show is Lisa does NOT want to destroy her marriage for Stefan, as she desperately tried to flee from him when Stefan attempted to seduce her again but Stefan's has just too big a spell on her. Even so, the movie never indicated that Lisa has decided to throw away everything to be with him
4) Her son - she saw him off at the train station because he needed to go back to school, is that deserting to you?
5) Stefan (2nd time) - can you really say she desert Stefan when she never had him, as she slowly realized that Stefan never actually remembered who she was, he was just repeating the same lies to every woman he seduced? As a matter I think Lisa showed great strength to leave Stefan considered the kind of spell he had on her.
I don't even know where to begin, Lisa might not be a sympathetic figure most casual movie-viewers want their heroine to be, but I found many criticism this board has on her is way too harsh and bias, mostly they judge her behaviour based on the more of *today's* society. So let's look at the people you accuse Lisa deserting