Martin's confession to Erica - An Unmarried Woman (1978) Discussion

[–] Hup234! 18 years ago

It's definitely no act; the man is miserable and frightened over what is happening and is obviously uncertain about the decisions he has made, and he has no intention of hurting Erica although he knows that will be the result.

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[–] laurenswann 18 years ago

>>It's definitely no act; the man is miserable and frightened over what is happening and is obviously uncertain about the decisions he has made, and he has no intention of hurting Erica although he knows that will be the result.<<

I agree, it shows how torn and internally conflicted he is. He cares enough about his wife (who's clueless) that he doesn't want to hurt her but he's in the throes of this new set of strong, strong feelings.

Doesn't get him off the hook though, he still has to live up to the mess he got himself into and face the music of his consequences.

I believe men who cheat on their wives commit a despicable act, but still its a very well done scene showing that any human can make a bad mistake and be forced to deal with it and confront what they have to do to move forward, even if they are 100% responsible for getting themselves into an avoidable and unnecessary mess, its painful for them to find their way out of it because they know they've caused pain to someone else they once loved above all others. He wasn't completely a heartless b*st*rd or inhumane.

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[–] Isaac5855 18 years ago

Tnank you for saying that Martin's crying does not get him off the hook because that was the impression that I always got from the scene. It seemed like Martin felt that the crocodile tears would excuse what he did...that if he cried long and hard enough, it would assuage his guilt and force Erica to accept what he's doing and move on.

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[–] Isaac5855 18 years ago

Doesn't get him off the hook though, he still has to live up to the mess he got himself into and face the music of his consequences

Thank you for saying this...I always got the feeling that Martin felt that the agony of what he's going through should have gotten him off the hook, but it doesn't. Maybe that's why the scene bothers me, because it always seemed to me that Martin felt his guilt excused his behavior.

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[–] paul_johnr 18 years ago

I watched this film for the first time in about eight years, and my reaction is the same - I think Martin is full of beans. I'm not saying that he doesn't feel remorse, but I did think he was forcing extra tears. He's been having an affair for a year. All of a sudden he's in crisis? Where was this fellow's pain the other eleven months?

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[–] Isaac5855 18 years ago

I'm glad to see someone else feels the way I do about Martin. I always felt his tears in the big confession scene were a little over the top. I just never bought it, it was like his way of relieving himself of the guilt he was feeling about what he was doing to Erica.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Isaac5855 17 years ago

Martin and Erica barely look at each other in that scene because Martin is too racked with guilt too look Erica in the eye and Erica is too shocked and angry to look at Martin in the eye. Martin's racked with guilt because he has already decided to leave Erica but hasn't figured out how to tell her yet.

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[–] mmitsos-1 16 years ago

I guess the crying made him more "human"...some men just coldly tell their wives "I want out...I met someone...I want out/a divorce". Still, though, he looked like a worm. In a way, now that I think about it, he seemed almost incredulous himself that he "fell in love with her"...buying a necktie at a department store (was it Macy's?). It was almost as if he wanted his wife's permission, like a child, to go with the other woman. And, he wasn't crying real tears...which made the gesture all the more fake. Michael Murphy's usually a good actor (I like to hate his wormy character in "Manhattan"), but he should have cried real tears in this scene...even if they had to give him fake drops, or whatever. But overall, even, it seems the writer made a strange choice to write the dialog in the manner he did....it just made the husband seem infantile and wormy (even though, of course, he is) talking through the crying. But, I still loved the film. And, as an aside, Jackie Gleason's daughter was so pretty (I think she played Jeanine...whoever the friend was who was "dating" the 19-year-old).

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[–] banders46 16 years ago

I don't think the tears are supposed to be fake, exactly, but there's often a manipulative element to crying. Sometimes this is subconcious, but crying naturally evokes pity in the other person. It also moves us to take action to stop crying. Think of a baby: when a baby cries, parents will do whatever it takes to stop the crying. This isn't just good parenting; it's a natural response to the irritation of the crying.

When you break up with someone and they cry, it makes you feel guilty about doing the breaking up. In this scene, Martin does the breaking up AND the crying, not really leaving any kind of response open to his wife, so she walks away. It's manipulative because she's not allowed to cry and grieve, and she ends up angry at him instead. Sure it's human and natural, but also manipulative. If he hadn't been such a baby about it, and if he had any real compassion for the wife he was about to dump, he'd keep the crying to himself.

Anyway, I don't know why I'm posting to such an old thread.

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[–] hodie 16 years ago

It's definitely no act; the man is miserable and frightened over what is happening and is obviously uncertain about the decisions he has made, and he has no intention of hurting Erica although he knows that will be the result.
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I agree. Though Erica must have been a dumb-ass not to have realized that he had been cheating on her for over a year.

God save Donald Duck, vaudeville and variety

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[–] Somerset_25 17 years ago

I think the problem I have with that scene is that (I'm fairly sure) you don't actually see Martin crying--with, you know, tears falling down his face. I'm more inclined to blame the actor, whoever he is, because I've seen the same thing happen a number of times, mostly on television. The actors go through all the motions of crying--the voice, the sniffling, etc.--but you don't actually see the tears fall. That's what made me think, "Oh, he's full of it."
That being said, the general idea of Martin breaking down on the street is kind of sad to me, but as others have said, it doesn't get him off the hook.

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[–] Percivalx 17 years ago

I'm with what another poster said, I blame the actor. If it had been done with an actor who could actually show remorse and tear up naturally, it would have worked.

"I don't mind a parasite. I object to a cut-rate one."

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] cpmorr 16 years ago

I remember seeing this with my mother in 1977; she had been through the same experience with my father about 5 years before and she felt that the scene was dead on. One thing that rang true for her looking back was the 'tears'...at the time she felt that they were genuine, but time gave her perspective. She felt that he knew exactly what he wanted and that the tears would give him leverage. Men.

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[–] banders46 16 years ago

Exactly. It's not that the tears aren't real, exactly. I'm sure he feels bad and all -- he did love his wife at one point -- but he knows what he wants and knows subconsciously that his crying will the put the focus back on him and give him some "leverage," as you say.

Women use tears manipulatively as well, of course, like when you're trying to break up with them. Hehe.

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[–] carlsez_1 15 years ago

I think your post and your previous post are on the mark. I think that his tears come from something more "subconscious".

Regardless of the supposed contrite nature of his behavior, people can still be selfish even when confessing. I've experienced people who seemed to be more upset because they could no longer carry out their own lie rather than being upset for the other person they have hurt. It's not tears of empathy, it's tears of self pity. And that scene I think is what established Erica's emotional maturity - at least above her husband's.

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[–] hodie 15 years ago

I didn't mind Martin's tears as the fact that he made a lunch appointment with Erica to tell her where she wouldn't make a scene. That was pretty *beep* of him, I think.

God save Donald Duck, vaudeville and variety

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[–] carlsez_1 13 years ago

I'll shed a tear for Jill Claybergh. Rest in Peace.

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[–] Druff (1527) 3 months ago

I just saw a retrospective interview from 2020; Michael Murphy (Martin) said that he really came to understand just how much of a piece of shit the character was because for a few years after the movie came out, whenever he went out in public people would recognize him, but instead of asking for his autograph or whatever, they'd just give him dirty looks.

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