MovieChat Forums > My Dinner with Andre (1981) Discussion > What did Andre mean?

What did Andre mean?

posted 8 years ago by Gymnopedie-De-Gnossienne
5 replies | jump to latest

A baby holds your hands, and then suddenly, there's this huge man lifting you off the ground, and then he's gone. Where's that son?

What exactly did Andre mean by this? And it what context was it said? I always found that statement to be poignant.

There is only a split second between existing and being a mere memory.

[–] felipenor 8 years ago

I didn't get that line either, but it seemed to have an important meaning in the film.

[–] Dejay 8 years ago

I've wondered about that too!

Not even sure what is meant with "lifting you off the ground" - does this refer to giving someone sitting on a lawn a hand and pull him up? Or like you lift up a child? Does the parent become the child and the son the parent?

Or does this simply refer to how children grow up, and need to go their own way, become their own person and move away from their parents. In regards to the roles we play, the role "son" totally changes.

Or maybe it's just poetry that is meant to pull you out of the dream world and into the real world?

[–] Owlwise 8 years ago

I think it's the very ambiguity of those words that makes it such a powerfully haunting line, evoking loss, memories, and questions of what (if anything) we can really cling to in the end.

[–] Dejay 8 years ago

Yeah :)

[–] trippycheez 7 years ago

I thought it referred to the baby quickly growing up and ultimately becoming stronger than the parent.