MovieChat Forums > A Wedding (1978) Discussion > Why is Mia such a freak in this?

Why is Mia such a freak in this?

posted 17 years ago by jgoodfriend
11 replies | jump to latest

God, what an annoying performance. It's not entirely her fault as she didn't write it, but she's obviously not a deaf mute, but she plays it this way. Bizzare.

[–] jkinoz 17 years ago

She simply followed Altman's directions.

[–] Connie_n_Raymond_Marble 16 years ago

I thought Mia was great in this! She was totally hysterical! I loved the way she started counting on her fingers when her father asked how many men she'd been with. When she ran out of fingers she took the hands of another woman and began counting on HER fingers. Her mother finally says, "Buffy, that's enough!" LOL. Or when her brother starts having a seizure and she just sticks her fingers in her ears, makes a face, and turns away. Incidentally, I read under the trivia section that Sissy Spacek was offered the part but had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts. Spacek would have been great also. This character would have really fit in with the freaks and oddballs she was playing at that time.

We'll see whose the filthiest person alive! We'll just see!

[–] willerror 15 years ago

Yes, I also loved Farrow in this, so silent and creepy and yet obviously having some fun with it all. Spacek would've been good too however.

[–] cookiela2001 14 years ago

And what about her sudden nude scene???? THAT surprised me! Goof for her : )

[–] brefane 9 years ago

I thought she was very good and not too dissimilar from her part/performance in Death on the Nile.

[–] r3dqu33n 15 years ago

I thought Altman had Farrow play her character with two contrasts. She seemed quite innocent and child-like except for her nymphomania. Her character had at least emotional incest with her father, so maybe that's how she learned to get attention.

[–] textus 14 years ago

I think the assumption is that she has some emotional or mental disabiality. Mental retardation? Autism? Residue from sexual abuse from a relative? Any of these is plausible.

In that context, you have to consider that the inappropriateness of her scene in front of the painting is inappropriateness on the character's part as much as the filmmaker's.

[–] gjung01 13 years ago

I definitely felt that Mia Farrow's character was mildly retarded and, as another poster stated, felt that being child like and having sex with multiple men was a way for her to get men (her father) to pay attention to her. Obviously, Muffin was always the good girl that got the good grades and was adored by the parents. Mia tries to take away attention by announcing that she is pregnant with Dino's child and taking relish in it (even when she is smiling when her father is yelling at her) and when she walked in front of the nude painting of Muffin in the nude herself as they were filming it. I think it was a combination of her being simple and trying to get attention from her family by being shocking.

[–] franzkabuki 11 years ago

And why does she look so much like Sissy Spacek here...?

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] sumankey13 9 years ago

and she was goddamn anorexic skinny during that painting pose scene---for supposedly playing someone 4 mos. pregnant?!

yeah the role could've gone to Spacek, but Farrow seemed to fit right in with this cast of freaks, and fit alot of roles she was doing at the time, perhaps more so than the ever-so-divine Sissy Spacek

[–] gorgsharpy 9 years ago

Well, there was even a direct reference to Carrie ...

Notice the movie is mentioned by Buffy's mother.

Wondering what it may imply for Altman, besides the religious aspect perhaps.

They are both dressed in red and readheads, so thats clearly a menstruation reference. But why?

"You couldn't be much further from the truth" - several