MovieChat Forums > If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000) Discussion > Little Maggie knew her great aunt was 'd...

Little Maggie knew her great aunt was 'different'...

posted 14 years ago by dhdatcher
3 replies | jump to latest

Small children are so observant and aware of the "adults" body language. This little girl was the only one, in the '61 segment that connected with Edith's grief. The camera captures the intensity of her "understanding" on several occasions: 1. When they 1st start discussing selling the house, her huge blue eyes are staring at her dad & Edith, over the sandwich.. listening intently to every word. 2.When she hears Edith crying, and offers her one of Aunt Abby's hankies. 3. Offers to give back the binoculars, after Edith snapped & told her "it wasn't her or her parents place to take things". 4. When Maggie finds the pix of them in "drag" and asks flat-out, "why're they dressed as men?" 5. She was reluctant to take the birds & went against her mother's command & asked Edith if she would like to keep one of the birds. 6. When they were leaving, Maggie stayed behind to offer the warmest little handshake, because she knew how deeply Edith was connected to her aunt Abby...

Lil Maggie might not have had the "label" to describe what she knew, but she knew nonetheless..
I absolutely love this movie, and perhaps put way too much into analyzing it (lol). But it was amazing! I would love to start a "viewer-forum" chat so anybody else who's interested can discuss the story lines....e-mail me.
Peace*

[–] evil_jessi 13 years ago

Definately Maggie sensed that her great Aunt and 'the old lady loved each other like 'Mummies' and 'Daddies' love each other. She may not understand but she knew

[–] cathy-creswell 8 years ago

I enjoyed your keen observations. I was annoyed ny the girl at first. Wanting to touch things, poking around. It wasn't until the hanky scene I grew to like her. I will need to watch it again and pay special attention to her.

[–] lwangels0 8 years ago

Good observation. I agree that Maggie was the most empathetic and emotionally aware out of the 3. The wife was just awful, Abby wasn't even cold and she was just like a vulture, literally grabbing anything she could find without even bothering to ask Edith whether they were hers or not. I would have asked her to leave immediately, dreadful, callous woman.

Although Ted was a little tacky in discussing Edith leaving straight away, I don't actually think he is as bad a guy as people make out. From his perspective he was the legal next of kin as Abby didn't have a will therefore the house now belonged to him, like he said having Edith there would be just burning a hole in his pocket, and she is right she shouldn't have to pay rent all over again, but what other option did he have? He had no idea the extent of their relationship, which as sad as it is, isn't really his fault. Its a desperately sad situation, that could have been handled better yes, but really Abby and Edith should have made out a will and legal documents if they both owned a house together. Extremely heart-breaking segment.

"What you don't like rice? Tell me Michael, how can a billion Chinese people be wrong?"