And thus, we are--as an audience watching a portrayal of a character -- given a chance to see how gutsy the character is. I think Holofcener did something really tricky here. It's beautiful how she shows that there's immense strength in letting yourself be so vulnerable, in surfing the wave of emotions -- shame, pride, doubt, confidence -- to arrive at a new view of yourself.
The character was desperate to be mirrored, to be seen. The movie star man was the perfect audience -- he wasn't going to placate her or seduce her (he'd done that). He'd just look at her for what she is, even with the same critical pro actor's eye she had herself. By hearing his flatly unromantic description of her physical self, she could overcome the terrible doubt she had about who and what she was in other people's eyes. Her agent plainly wasn't seeing her, her mom loved her unconditionally, her sister was in her own world. Her boyfriend maybe saw her alright, but he felt deep down that that kind of talk was irrelevant (like the dogs), so that was a kind of dismissal of her needs to be acknowledged for who she was.
Anyway, I've never seen a scene like this in a movie. It's cool and true.
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kprp
16 years ago
Well, you may be right.
but I took it to be a scene that shows her neurotic obsession with herself, as actors need to have in order to "contantly tune the instrument" etc. While her boyfreind was a crepp, I sympathized with him.
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rasajike
14 years ago
Superb read gwendefortun!
I'd only add the following:
The actor was the perfect 'disinterested third party'.
I believe the experience served to confirm Elizabeth's suspicions about herself. We can presume that on many occasions she stood before a mirror, alone, compiling a list of the same physical attributes that the actor called out.
He matter-of-factly rattle off the same list that she'd made (remember the 'flabby arms' confirmation) and was finally assured that, first-and-foremost, she isn't "crazy".
Instead of crushing her spirit, his point of view appeared to settle her perception into one of self-awareness and steered her away from "neurotic" self-obsession.
It was a great scene.
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