Alfred was such a dick
I don't feel he deserved the "happy ever after" ending he got.
share He gave a great speech when he got his partnership (he wasn't as bad as the others).
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MovieChat Forums > From the Terrace (1960) Discussion > Alfred was such a dick
I agree. All he did was ignore his wife. She tried and he did not.
shareI totally agree !! He was a neglectful jerk. He also made it clear that even though the boss was not "allowing" his wife to go with him on his many business trips, he STILL chose the career/boss over her. What a cad ! :D
shareUh, sorry but I seem to recall she insisted he take that job. She wanted a successful husband and that's what she got.
Their marriage didn't fall victim to his career, but to her idleness. She had no career of her own, no children to raise, nothing to do but attend parties. So of course she feels abandoned because she has nothing to occupy her. But she conveniently forgets that it was she who chose him for his ambition.
It should also be recalled that she never sought anything to occupy her. She just wanted to go to parties etc., but with him. She wanted to have some dream life of idle pleasure that would not require him to work.
All of which is no fault of his.
Two extremes, but some sort of compromise should have been possible.
share@TheManinOil, I must say I completely agree. She wouldn't even consider marriage to Alfred without his promise that he would do the necessary work be "somebody". She was all behind him when he was working on the airplanes to the wee hours of the morning and pretty much made the decision for him to take the Wall Street position. Then she falls on her face and gets bored. Someone should have told her that only boring people are ever bored.
Just before the heart attack, the father's speech about the mother foreshadowed what was going to happen - how it was his fault Alfred's mother ended up in the arms of another man. You could almost hear it in his tone the warning for Alfred to not let this happen to him. A warning Alfred didn't heed.
In the end Alfred realized he had become the one thing he despised the most - his own father. He realized how vile it was to remain in a loveless and unfaithful (she even wanted to be "swingers") marriage just for the sake of the company/job. Alfred realized his marriage had gone to the point of no return because wifey was happy out running around while he was working to keep her up with "Harper's Bazaar" But, he had $5,000,000 before the age of 40 (in our day that would be $45 million plus)- wifey is going to do all right with a divorce settlement. Also he is the only child, he will inherit all his father's millions too.
I felt very satisfied with the ending where he gets to be happy - this isn't "Gone Girl". In the end he became a man of character.
That said, the part I loved the most was how she drove all love out of Alfred when he was telling her not to see Dr. Shrink (because it was disrespecting the marriage) and then Dr. Shrink basically tells her she is nothing more than a warm place to stick it when she decides she needs to feel loved.
GIANNIS52 says > All he did was ignore his wife. She tried and he did not.I don't think it's fair to blame Alfred for the demise of the marriage. He played a part but Mary wasn't exactly an innocent bystander either. Alfred was a busy guy but he never really ignored her until he saw through her façade and knew who she really was.
I get the feeling, whoever she married, Mary was the kind of person who would end up being dissatisfied with her life, blaming her husband then having affairs. She's
She knew Alfred was ambitious and was not one to accept anything he hadn't worked for and earned so naturally, he was going to put in the hours and effort necessary to build up his career.
Mary was too dependent on Alfred to occupy her time and to entertain her. She wanted him around for sex and to accompany her to the multitude of society parties with her snob friends. He had very few friends among that set.
It was unrealistic of her to expect him to turn down out of town assignments. At first the twit Creighton, whose child Alfred saved, recommended him to get him out of the way. Alfred did such a good job in the field it became his domain. If he could have taken Mary along he would have but the boss was against it; he was probably right to assume it would be a distraction.
As she told her friend, the decision to not to have children was all hers; not Alfred's. I felt this was a big betrayal of him. Having come from a dysfunctional family in which he felt unloved and alone, having children would have been a good thing for him. She didn't care. She did the selfish thing. With Natalie, I'm sure there'll be children and a household of mutual respect and love.
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I don't agree that it's a "happy ever after" ending. I think his wife was going for the "happy ever after" and he rejected it in favor of taking the risk to pursue happiness, regardless of cost.
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The marriage is a match made in hell. Neither character is particularly virtuous, and they should never have even spoken to each other, let alone marry. However, in that sense, maybe they deserved each other. Alfred/David is an ill-conceived character; his morals are at best ambiguous, and come and go with the direction of the wind. The only two sympathetic (major) characters are Natalie, and Alfred's mother.
shareI blame both Alfred & Mary for their failing marriage. Yes he put business before his wife but in many cases she pushed him into that ladder-climbing status. And Mary certainly wasn't virtous either. She was constantly allowing Jim Roper to get near her. The most decent person was Natalie, who was also absolutely gorgeous.
shareAlbert was a jerk, but the bigger jerk was his boss, MacHardie, who manipulated Albert all the way, even telling Albert about her infidelities. I agree with the original poster, Albert didn't deserve his 'happy' ending.
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