MovieChat Forums > Young Adam (2003) Discussion > THOUGHTS AND QUESTIONS

THOUGHTS AND QUESTIONS


Why did ella invite her sister on board and let her go to the cinema with joe ? It seems to me that she intentionally tried to get rid of joe by putting temptation in his way . How did ella know they had sex ?

When he met kathy on the beach was that actually the 1st time they met ?

Joe was a pretty lousy artist to be honest - His attempt to travel the world ended on a edinburgh to glasgow barge ! he could walk through life without making any impression or engaging with life which seemed to be his idea of what an artist should be, yet he could only connect to people via sex and even then it had to be dishonest and in cathys case destructive. Even he realised that psychodrama had to end - he was actually tender with her and honestly didnt mean her any harm .
He just couldnt quite free himself entirely from people because the artist needs to be around life . Im not sure joe realises this in the end. The film was an excellent study of guilt and responsibility - joe throwing the mirror into the sea where kathy drowned was symbolic , realising his guilt was pointless,futile and freeing himself completely .

A very sad powerful film , certainly one of the best british films of recent years (and what a soundtrack)

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Why did ella invite her sister on board and let her go to the cinema with joe ? It seems to me that she intentionally tried to get rid of joe by putting temptation in his way . How did ella know they had sex ?


I don't think Ella understood fully that Joe was starting to lose interest in her, but after they came back she seemed to have figured it out, maybe a gut feeling.

When he met kathy on the beach was that actually the 1st time they met?


According to the novel, that is where they first meet.

He could walk through life without making any impression or engaging with life which seemed to be his idea of what an artist should be.


I still have this belief as well. I feel that if I can isolate myself from the world sometimes that I can see so many different perspectives and see the world for what it really is.

I am still not sure where people get the impression he is TRYING to isolate himself from the world for the sake of an artist. I know he is an outsider who chooses to be like that, but where does this artist part come in?

joe throwing the mirror into the sea where kathy drowned was symbolic , realising his guilt was pointless,futile and freeing himself completely


According to the DVD commentary, the director says it symbolizes that Joe has now lost his soul.

A very sad powerful film , certainly one of the best british films of recent years (and what a soundtrack)


I totally agree and I still can't stop listening to the CD soundtrack that I own!

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A simple explanation was she knew Joe was using her for having sex. He never expressed any kind of true affection to her but sexual energy, she felt as any woman would after one hurts her husband for someone who would not be worth anything. You can see the hurt in her eyes after he had apparently dumped her after she told him not to touch her. In the court room as she gets up to join Les after he testified, she was only there to be with her husband.

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Why did ella invite her sister on board and let her go to the cinema with joe ? It seems to me that she intentionally tried to get rid of joe by putting temptation in his way . How did ella know they had sex ?
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I don't think Ella intentionally tried to get rid of Joe by inviting her sister to stay with them on the barge, but she realized as soon as they wanted to go out, away from her, what was on their minds. You could tell by the sort-of sick look on her face as they left, the forced smile with the grief behind the eyes. (This scene is a testament to Tilda Swinton's acting skills, but that's another blog altogether.) That's why she wouldn't let Joe touch her when they came back. After all, she knew Joe was a seducer, for he had seduced her away from her husband. And she knew that any time Joe sought time alone with her, he was looking for sex from her. It was not so far a stretch for her to understand that the same thing would happen with her sister, who was suddenly alone and might take comfort in a lover, and who made no bones about what she thought about Ella's new boyfriend (fair game). I think that's part of why Ella goes back to her husband later--she realizes that she and Joe shared little more than the physical gratification of sex. It was what she needed at the time--the physical intimacy she could not have with her husband--but it was an affair, an ephemeral thing, not a recipe for permanence, and it seems inevitable, even for her, when Joe moves on to the next conquest.

~The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. (Marcel Proust)

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That was a really good summary!

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I unfortunately missed that bit, which was a critical bit of the film, so thanks!

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Haven't watched the movie but I'm curious. Did the husband know?

<<-- Mess With The Best, Die Like The Rest -->>

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It's kind of told to you in the confrontation scene between Joe and Les.

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How did ella know they [Ella's sister and Joe] had sex ?


That's what Ella and Joe did, Joe got away from Les during the dart game, the visit to the fair to be with Ella alone to have sex, if Joe now wants to go to the cinema alone with Ella's sister, what did Ella think they will do? Suspicion is the first thing on Ella's mind..



I don't think Ella understood fully that Joe was starting to lose interest in her, but after they came back she seemed to have figured it out, maybe a gut feeling.


Joe was just a sex maniac, will want to sleep with any woman he sees. So Joe having sex with Ella's sister has nothing to do with losing interest in Ella. His sex with Ella's sister is probably a 'one night stand' while his relationship with Ella should continue for the shelter, work and sex. After the sister left, Joe tried to touch Ella which meant he still wants Ella but Ella knew Joe has been unfaithful so she would not let Joe touch her.

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She thought she meant more to him because in my opinion she equated sex as a form of love. She needed the closeness it brought her. When she figured out he had sex with her sister it made her realize that was all he wanted from her even though she meant more to him, he still needed sex from other women. He did not feel the love and sincere bond she had for him. The thing is he never seemed to convey that it was love.


She could at least trust her husband and know he would not have done something like this. I also feel he maybe just had a bad outing and was not yer 100%impotent at the Time. I wanted to see what was said between her and Les at the end. Seems as if he was impotent how would she had approached him because he would know he is there for only helping her with the work.

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She figured out two things, first they were drinking for over two hours so they must have reeked with booze,remember they were supposed to be going to the movies. Second her sister looked guilty. I wondered had Ella slept with her sister husband before or if Les had her in the past. What posseed her to do this to her sister out of the blue.

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