MovieChat Forums > Move Over, Darling (1963) Discussion > the daughters and Bianca have no idea wh...

the daughters and Bianca have no idea what Ellen looks like?

posted 9 years ago by easjr1991
4 replies | jump to latest

There is something about the movie that bothers me, though it was good otherwise. Ellen returns to her home, and she sees her two daughters in the swimming pool. They, at the time of her disappearance, were babies, and they were too young to remember her. Ellen greets her daughters, but they don't recognize her. I can't believe that. I mean, the only way this would be possible is if Nick had removed all photos of Ellen in their home, and never showed them to their two daughters. It seems selfish for a father to never show his daughters any photos of their presumably deceased mother. Even if they don't remember her, they could still feel the pain of the fact that (as far as they knew) their mother was dead, and that they would never know her. Then again, the beginning shows Nick to be somewhat insensitive, in that he had Ellen declared legally dead, and married Bianca immediately afterwards.

Also, when Ellen poses as Helga, the Swedish nurse, Bianca does not recognize her either. So, we are expected to believe that Nick removed all photos of Ellen, and never showed his new wife photos of his first wife whom he lost.

[–] Countryford 9 years ago

I agree it was odd, that the children had never seen a picture of their mother. As far as Bianca, when she arrives at the house with Nick(back from their honeymoon), she asks Nick something about how many rooms they have in their house. Like she had never been there before. I thought that was odd, that she had never even entered the house, before she married him.

[–] MysticGoddess327 8 years ago

She had entered the house though, because the children said she slept in the guest room. Likely that room was on the ground floor. At the time, it probably wasn't appropriate for an unmarried woman to be in the living area of a man's home.

[–] justlikeastar-44954 9 years ago

Definitely shady! Lol It's supposed to be a sweet, lighthearted comedy and I get that but that's quite a plot hole!

[–] lm362 8 years ago

If you watched "To Kill a Mockingbird" you know there is one scene where Scout(Atticus daughter) asks Jem (Atticus son) if their mother was pretty. In another scene there is a picture of a woman which implies it is their deceased mother. I think that for very young children a picture or pictures would not really connect them to their dead mother or father and they would still not really know what they would look like. Likely, this is why Doris Day's characters children do not recognize her. There is no reason to think Nick removed all the photos of their mother.

Also, Nick does not necessarily need to be viewed as insensitive because he marries someone immediately after declaring his missing wife dead. The movie portrays Bianca as pressuring Nick into the marriage. Remember she tells the judge Nick does want to marry her. She doesn't give Nick the chance to answer, implying that he may not really have wanted to do so and she knows that. It is quite likely that she never wanted to go into Nick's house and found ways to avoid it, or she did not look at any pictures of his missing wife, especially if she wanted to catch Nick so bad.

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