Past Affecting the Present, with mini-spoilers

------ Mini-Spoilers Ahead --------






The most enjoyable aspect of this movie for me is the handling of how both John's and Mary's past relationships inform THEIR current....ummmm....relationship (?) – Throughout most of the movie, they don't seem to know if they even HAVE/will have a relationship and both are rather dodgy around each other, attempting to ‘guess at’ what the other one is thinking/feeling, but without openly communicating to each other their true doubts and concerns.

Sex with a stranger seemed rather easy for both of them. Getting to ‘know’ each other seemed rather difficult.

In reminiscing (done via flashbacks in the film):

John references his emotional abandonment by his mother (Because of this, he has learned to become rather self-sufficient as an adult).
John references the model/live-in former girlfriend who 'messed up' his otherwise sedate existence (this relationship, I believe, was a way for him to not truly commit himself).

Mary references her first sexual experience.

Mary references her affair with the married man (the affair being a way for her not to commit).

And, so forth.

John and Mary get their first sexual liaison out of the way fairly quickly.

It is the 'what happens next', and in reference to their past relationships, that seems to be the big 'what if?' throughout the movie.

Reminds me of the themes in the more recent movie 'About Last Night' with Demi Moore and Rob Lowe.


Just my two cents! denise1234


"I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than..a rude remark or a vulgar action" Blanche DuBois