MovieChat Forums > Idioterne (1998) Discussion > 1 thing in the end that bothers me..

1 thing in the end that bothers me..


Its reaction of Anders (husband). Yes, people used to think that mother must come to her child's funeral to say goodbye and whatever but there is no need to be so ignorant and mean. Couldn't he just understand that maybe is was too hard for her to come there and to "let go"... why so overreact?

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It's one thing to not come to the funeral, but it's quite another to just disappear completely. I don't think he overreacted. Though he was wrong to assume that the death didn't affect her much just because she didn't attend the funeral.

The real trick to life is not to be in the know, but to be in the mystery. -Fred Alan Wolf

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her disappearance was her own way of dealing with situation, so I'm still with her on this one :)

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Her mom (or sister, can't remember) even said "we thought you were dead." Leaving your whole family, for two weeks, without notice is pretty selfish. If any sitation called for it, it'd be the death of your child I'm sure, but still wrong nonetheless. Just a phone call to her husband, like "I'm here, just had to get away, I'm not dead" would've been great.

The real trick to life is not to be in the know, but to be in the mystery. -Fred Alan Wolf

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True. She was pretty selfish and so were many of the film's main characters IMO. I understand this film attempts to criticise the bourgeois mentallity but the main characters are no less bourgeois than the society they criticise....

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It's one thing to be upset, it's another to slap her across the face. And you're defending this act it seems so you're coming off like a complete jackass.

#51"That's right, one can make all kinds of explosives using simple household items"

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I don't think their pointing out the things Karen did wrong is to be taken as a defense of the act of slapping her across the face. In fact, there was a lot of sympathy there for the husband character, so I'd say they came across as the opposite of a jackass, to me.

---
My vote history: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=13037287

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Actually I find last scene to be the most disturbing (even compared to orgy) in its reality, because this is real life and how real people react, it's not right, but it's real how her husband did react and I was really pi**ed off from him, because I don't like people who are beating other people.

Btw. she made few calls home, she was just quiet without response but they could knew it's her (who else could call and be quiet?), they even asked if it's her when she was on phone.

Peter Markoff
If you don't like my english, write it to me in my own language.

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Karen's family is a very scary, suffocating group. Their reaction shows that they are simpletons. I found it believeable.

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--I agree cruzlee. My family came inches away from disowning me when I left at 17 for a month after having been raped. I needed that time alone, it was how I dealt with the situation. They still have not forgiven me, although it's been 7 years. I connected to this movie on a very personal level, as I'm sure most did who have experienced tragedy in their lives. In some situations, it's okay to be selfish.

Nozz-a-la! the Drink of finer bumhugs everywhere!

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They seemed supportive before her husband hit her. That's the problem, that her husband hit her and that they did nothing. Before that, I think they(the family excluding the husband) were just happy to have her back and would have gotten over Karen disappearing if she had been willing to open up to them.

#51"That's right, one can make all kinds of explosives using simple household items"

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He didn't just slap her, he decked her with his palm and busted open her eyebrow.

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(to deck means to hit someone so hard that they fall down [fall to 'the deck'])
carry on ...

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Karen's family is a very scary, suffocating group.
Indeed. I think the location the filmmakers chose to serve as their home went a long way toward increasing that sense. So many people in such a small, cramped, claustrophobic space -- in contrast to how bright and open the house had been where the group had been hanging out.

They seemed supportive before her husband hit her. That's the problem, that her husband hit her and that they did nothing. Before that, I think they(the family excluding the husband) were just happy to have her back and would have gotten over Karen disappearing if she had been willing to open up to them.
Supportive? I'd say they seemed more indifferent - or maybe annoyed, so annoyed that they expressed it as feigned indifference - rather than supportive. When Karen's sister tells the teenage girl who I assume is Karen's niece that Karen has returned, the girl says to Karen, "What do you want?" As if to say, Yeah, well, we were worried about you before, but we're over it now and could not care less what's going on with you.

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I was thinking about this too. It's not really because she disappeared. They all sat down at the table together and if she had conformed to their understanding of grieving/propriety, instead of spazzing, life for her would have of gone on in the family however dismal that might have been. It's because she chose to spazz out, which to the husband just wasn't understandable on any level. He knows her and knows that she isn't mentally handicapped anyway, so she must putting it on as far as he is concerned. He sees it as completely disrespectful to their child.



Done with fish.

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wow it's been 6 years since I watched a movie and made that post. time flies

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Yeah, that's life. The good boards move too slowly.



Done with fish.

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The reaction wasn't because she left without saying anything, it was because she was acting like an 'idiot' after so much time away without saying anything. The whole situation is absurd, and Trier knew this, but this is what happens when liberal expression clashes within an ultra-conservative household.

Interestingly, the title of an early Trier film is: Why Try to Escape from Which You Know You Can't Escape from? Because You Are a Coward (1970)

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