My second thread entitled "Why does he slap her?"
I'm not even going to try and pretend I understood this movie, watched at uni in an uncomfortable theatre, but there's just a general overwhelming of disgust as to why he would slap her like that!
So any clarification would be welcome.
xxx
xxx
Disgust isn't the word I would think of. More surprise and confusion. I too wondered why at the time.
I think it was because she was starting to break down before he slapped her? And afterwards she managed to go on and tell the story.
Very deep film... I think it will take several viewings to completely 'get' it. But a great film nonetheless.
She was hysterical. He was trying to slap some sense into her?
shareOh, I know. He should have slapped her and then said: "You're insane! Get out of here! You're insane!"
Just kidding. But I think he was trying to wake her up from her memory/daydream that she was absorbed in. Obviously he had taken on the role of her German lover from the beginning of this specific conversation, and she had taken on the role of her past self as the German's lover: when she started freaking out, he just snapped her out of it. She (more or less) came back to reality, and it seemed they were not in their roles anymore. All done for the melodramatic effect that this film presents.
There are so many things that cannot be fully understood in this masterpiece, but perhaps done for melodramatic or aesthetic purposes is enough of an explanation.
p h u c k a b e e s !
Like everything else in the movie, slap was just a symbolism. There is nothing literal about it. When we get into trance, life slaps us to bring us back to reality. He is just an instrument that gets her back from the trance to reality. I certainly failed to appreciate her hysteria and the man's obsession (but for lust).
shareSorry to say, but you guys are all off. The slap was because she referred to the solider as "he" instead of "you." It goes back to the point of not "knowing" something unless you are within. Once she called him "he," then he no longer existed. He was a part of the past.
sharei dont think they're necessarily 'off' either. if what you said was the reason, the guy kept referring to himself as the German soldier also- he asked questions like 'where was i' and stuff
shareThis taken from a book i own which includes an analysis of the movie, I've translated it from Norwegian.
"Her intense reliving of the memory from her past, causes her to lose all self control. To 'wake' her into new contact with the present reality, the Japanese man
slap her in the face"
One of the hints to her losing "too much" control in this scene(i realy think it's about her going over the top) is when she says something like "for a few seconds, i could feel no difference between the dead body on the ground and my own". that is my opinion anyway.
One important thing to remember about modernist films like this though is the fact that the filmmakers encouraged audiences not to understand the movies in a particular way, this meaning there could be many explanations to a lot in a movie like this.
Sorry to say, but you guys are all off. The slap was because she referred to the solider as "he" instead of "you." It goes back to the point of not "knowing" something unless you are within. Once she called him "he," then he no longer existed. He was a part of the past.
wonderful to see some discussion about this particular scene on this board. Interesting opinions, it's always good to write them here. I just thought it was an end to her illusion, he just quit her fantasy, dream.
A great film and the fact that we're analyzing this small one scene, is a proof of the film's many and high artistic levels. I think this film requires to be watched several times, to completly understand it. But great films are like that, they don't need to be fully understood all the time. Truly a great film, a masterpiece.
"I never said all actors are cattle; what I said was all actors should be treated like cattle"
that came out of nowhere, lol.
wouldnt fly today, no sir :/