The Invitation from the old girlfriend
Why did this invitation make her start wondering about her condition?
shareWell, first of all, the invitation was sent my Maude, the best friend who was in love with Ellen's now husband and former boyfriend, so that drew suspicion as to why she would receive this mysterious invitation from Maude. Maude is jealous and vengeful and knows about Ellen's deadly disease and she hates her for marrying her boyfriend played by Van Johnson. Second, why would Ellen be on the list of invitees when supposedly in Ellen's mind, the topic has nothing to do with her. Ellen never knew how sick she was because her father kept it from her. So after thinking about it, Ellen reads about the organic heart disease condition in the encyclopedia and finds out more about her rheumatic fever and of the deadly heart disease she has (I don't remember the exact name). Remember, Ellen never knew the name of her disease. She just thought she had a condition that would go away one day. After this discovery through this mysterious invitation and looking up the disease, she realizes that she has a deadly heart disease and only one year to live. Ellen recalls the circumstances of the past year, comments made by others and realizes that her marriage was arranged by her father. She basically took that one clue from the invitation and discovered her illness and her arranged marriage.
shareI think Ellen finally fits all the pieces together when Agnes reminds her she's only there for one year. Ellen then remembers what Maude said about having Dan for a year and suddenly all the pieces start coming together.
We're all busy little bees, aren't we, honey?
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Rand-o says > I think Ellen finally fits all the pieces together when Agnes reminds her she's only there for one year. Ellen then remembers what Maude said about having Dan for a year and suddenly all the pieces start coming together.This is close to what I was going to say. Receiving the invitation in the mail was pivotal for Ellen because it finally started tying together and making sense of all the disjointed pieces of information she already had.
She always knew she was sick. She had distinct symptoms that were getting worse; not better. Her doctor was very nondescript and vague but her father showed clear signs of great concern and distress.
She also knew her father was super attentive and doted on her incessantly. She knew they had had a conversation about her remaining a spinster and he would do everything for her including trying to buy her happiness.
She'd heard from Maud that her husband may have had ulterior motives for marrying her. Maud also kept stressing she would only have Dan for about a year. She had seen Dan at her father's office; which was highly unusual, then immediately afterwards he started expressing an intimate interest in her he had never shown before. The maid was signed on for a one year contract that required her to leave her husband and be totally devoted to Ellen's care...
I especially liked the revelation part of the movie. It's usually how we figure things out in real life. Something triggers memories of conversations we've had, things people have said to us, feelings we've had, etc. and suddenly we 'discover' things we pretty much already knew. Things that never before seemed related are now important pieces of a puzzle we can see as it would look fully assembled.
I also suspect we each have pieces of all the secrets of life but in our failure to come together, we never get to see the big picture.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate] share