MovieChat Forums > Ship of Fools (1965) Discussion > Gila Golan's character, Elsa

Gila Golan's character, Elsa

posted 12 years ago by TheManInOil
2 replies | jump to latest

She and her family are pretty glossed over here. I imagine there must be more to their story in the book.

One comment and one question:

I always get annoyed when the 'ugly duckling' characters are played by women who are clearly beautiful. Golan was stunning even in her 'plain' dress and it's hard to imagine she doesn't know it.

My question is - why did she need a 'purge'? Was it because she wore the gown and danced with the Jewish guy and her parents thought something was coming over her? Or was her sickness purely incidental? It seemed like she was fine, and also the part of the story where the doctor visits seems again to be glossed over. It's the only time in the story it feels like characters are being used as a plot device and what they do has nothing to say about the themes of the film.

"I'll book you. I'll book you on something. I'll find something in the book to book you on."

[–] astockton_uk 9 years ago

Why she needed the purge isn't important. The fact is that her mother sent for the doctor just as La Condesa was about to disembark. The doctor was annoyed at being torn away from the woman he loved to tend to a teenager's gastric upset.

[–] Sibyla01 7 years ago

The Elsa character in the book is real unatractive, a big, stout girl, with a sad forsight that she´ll never find love - and the book hints, that it will really be so.