I watched this a couple of years ago and found the first story, where Demi Moore plays a 1950s housewife trying to seek an abortion, really riveting. The ending, which left her situation dangling, made me wonder what the outcome could've been. Does anyone have any clues or suggestions?
Unclean beast! Get thee down! Be thou consumed by the fires that made thee!
Dragonslayer
I'm guessing she hemorraged to death because she had an illegal abortion.
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I completely agree. But on another posting related to this episode I wished the story had been carried forward to see the impact of Claire's death on the people around her who knew of her situation.
It was my opinion that she died.
shareThat would have been great. I forgot she was using an old phone so the 911 couldn't have found her. Let's hope they caugh the pig that did it to her.
have a great day
The former sister in law had made it clear that because she was pregnant after her husband was dead she did not care what happened to her. She had sex outside of marriage--which was considered a sin back then. She was a 'single woman'.
shareI LOVE this part of the movie. It is my favorite. I think Demi Moore's performance is excellent.
I, too, think she died. I can't see any other way it could have ended. She was too weak/stunned/in shock to give her name or address to the operator, so no help could/would get to her. I think she bled out right there on her kitchen floor. So sad. I like the idea of following it up with reactions from others (family, friends), regarding her death, but I think the images we were left with were so powerful, it was perfectly scripted as it was/is.
I'm pregnant, can you pass the turnips? ~Darcy Elliot, For Keeps?
She died. Thousands of women in those days died due to illegal abortions. Makes me glad to know that it's near impossible to die during an abortion these days, even if the idea is still controversial.
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Oh boy. No, she would not have been charged with a crime. Women who had illegal abortions were never charged with crimes. It was not a crime to have an abortion; it was a crime to PERFORM one. If she survived, she would have been questioned by the police as to who performed the abortion and she might have been required to testify against him if he was caught, but she herself would not have faced any charges.
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That's a research job that would take a lot of resources. Were any women ever charged with a crime because they had abortions in places where it was illegal? I'm sure some were -- whether those charges were directly related to the abortions themselves or were "obstruction of justice" or "hindering prosecution" or similar when they wouldn't or couldn't give evidence or testimony about who performed the procedure and how they found that person, etc. I'm sure that there are many women who have shared those stories with people gathering information about the pre-Roe days.
The larger issue is that if a woman were found to have had an abortion and had been caught up in a police investigation and scandal, she would be socially ruined in many ways. It would have been emotional devastation on top of emotional devastation.
Thousands of women in those days died due to illegal abortions. Makes me glad to know that it's near impossible to die during an abortion these days
ok i've avoided your comments till now, because they are 2 years old. BUT 39 abortions may have been reported to the bureau where you get statistics, but you can not rely on statistics for the actual number of illegal activities. Less than 50% of rapes are reported a year, and half of those do not get reported to statistics reporting bureaus. Now, with this being back on the 1950's and 1960's, the fact is that there were NO reporting bureaus for abortion, or rape for that matter. People who did die from illegal abortins were often given a different reason on the autopsy for the sake of their families, or because it was unknown. So to say it was far from thousands is WRONG and not at all factual to real life circumstances. AND even if you look at the statistics, the person said thousands of people died previous to roe v wade due to illegal abortions, not just the ONE year. I hate when people think they know what they are talking about and it's wrong.
shareYeah she definitely died sorry to say, my god... was insane, but who was the father, the husband or that brother?
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The father of her unborn child was her brother-in-law which is why she wanted an abortion. She didn't want to shame her in-laws or herself by having it become known she was pregnant 6 months after her husband died. This was the best story and it shows how women were treated as outcast in the 50s. She went to 4 or 5 different people seeking help but no one wanted to deal with her or her situation.
shareIt was her brother in law. her husband died 6 months prior and she was 2 months pregnant. Further more, her brother in law kept apologizing to her in the car. Also , Claire told her sister in law that she was very lonely, and the sister in law got very upset, because her brother was dead only 6 months.
shareShe most likely bled to death. I think the reason the filmmakers didn't do any "follow up," with her friends' and family's reactions to her death, because that would've diminished the power of the final scene.
shareYes, it's more haunting.
The way she is trying to form coherent sentences for the operator and the amount of blood on the floor gives the impression she does not have long to live.
While waiting for the back-alley abortionist to arrive, there is a scene where she looks like a ghost and you hear a chime. This is the first time in that 1952 house you hear the chime It is a dramatic foreshadowing that she herself realizes her remaining time.
After first seeing it and still today, I believe that somebody (work? the painter fixing the house?) would have ultimately discovered the body.
My guess is that the hospital would be wondering why she was not calling in if she was not coming in. I don't necessarily know if they would go over or if anybody from work had a key to let themselves in.
But there had to be a reason why the painter was shown early, other than having a conversation about how the house painting is going.
Perhaps he had a spare key to let himself in and discover what had happened? Maybe in a longer version of the story??
I think that the people who made this movie had the intention (for the 1st segment) to make us think other than simply she lived or she died they wanted us to think that after the abortion ANYTHING could have happened. I know it's obvious but if you look at it in a certain kind of way you may find yourself thinking of a lot of possible outcomes.
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I'm a very big fan of Jason London.And I think that is
why I was sad Demi moore's character aborted her brother
in law's baby.But I really want to move on into the real
world.Besides in reality of that year Jason got to be dad
and on his birthday too!How cool is that?
I think it's pretty clear that she died.
My roommate did Adam West. She said he was SO horny.
At the very end after Claire falls and the phone falls, there is a sound that *could* be a door opening... but it is very unclear...
Anyone else hear that?
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My impression was that she died and the maitenance people working on her house ultimately discovered her body in the kitchen--at the latest when they went to collect their check for the work being performed.
This was the purpose of having the maitenance people being introduced earlier in the story. They were going to be the ones who found her.
... Because of the theme of the program and the time it is dealing with I think the writers intention was to have you believe that Claire died.
"Assuming Claire could not be saved (I am sure you are correct) IMO it was interesting that there were deaths in the 1952 and the 1996 segments both of which had completed abortions; while Sissy Spacek decided to keep her baby and nobody died in that segment.
(Wonder what happened to Tom)
IMO the theme seemed less about the time period and more about abortion being a crime: I cannot think of the right word but the message I got was abortion was criminal and punishable both in 1952 and 1996.
JMO"
Demi died from her abortion and Cher was murdered by Matthew Lillard in the 1996 segment. Of course it was punishable by law to perform an abortion in 1952, but Demi herself wouldn't have gone to prison. If she'd lived anyway. It wasn't a crime in 1996, but Matthew Lillard's character was a crazy ass radical who took matters into his own hands.
I really enjoyed Sissy Spacek's segment too. That's what made the movie great. It didn't have an underlying agenda for either the pro life or pro choice side. It just told 3 women's stories and how their decisions affected their lives.
Don't eva let nobody tell you you ain't strong enough
I just meant in a broader interpretation [fate]: it seemed that the punishment for abortion is death (of someone) - (I'm not considering the legal ramifications)
I thought it was a really gripping film - especially the 1st vignette.
"I just meant in a broader interpretation [fate]: it seemed that the punishment for abortion is death (of someone) - (I'm not considering the legal ramifications)"
Oh, I got ya. Agreed.
"I thought it was a really gripping film - especially the 1st vignette."
The first and the last were the most gripping imo.
Don't eva let nobody tell you you ain't strong enough
"It didn't have an underlying agenda for either the pro life or pro choice side. It just told 3 women's stories and how their decisions affected their lives"
But because she had been able to live in a time after the court decision, she was able to make that choice safely.
So yes, it was both explaining why being pro-choice is important--and why choice does not always have to involve choosing abortion either.
Pro-choice acknowlleges that all women must have a wide range of options to make the best choice for themselves.
She was too weak/stunned/in shock to give her name or address to the operator, so no help could/would get to her.
Silly to ask,but what would Kevin's outcome be?It was his
baby.I'd like to think he would feel very sad,but happy that
she and Steven are together again,in heaven!
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I don't think he cared as long as the family never found out what he did. They were more concerned with maintaining appearances above all else. So as long as his reputation is intact, and he gets off Scott free he is fine with what happened. It was her thing to deal with.