MovieChat Forums > All the Real Girls (2003) Discussion > Paul + Noel's sex scene

Paul + Noel's sex scene

posted 20 years ago by product626_98
7 replies | jump to latest

I agree with most of the comments I've read here about the film. But I just can't agree with those of you who believe Noel was truly sorry about sleeping with the guy at the party. It was almost like she finally slept with Paul just to make him feel better. Like he put in the work and didn't get the prize so she better go ahead and give it to him. During their sex scene she is rolling her eyes and half heartedly holding onto him. It seems like she is sleeping with him out of obligation rather than true feeling.
I'm prolly wrong so go ahead and tell me.
This film definitely dredged up all those feelings of wonder and pain that first love brings.

It takes a lot of nerve to have nothing at your age.

[–] BADASS200 20 years ago

I think the reason she slept with Paul was to show him that the sex with the other guy meant absolutely nothing. Sometimes you just have to have sex to get it out of the way, that's what her actions represented to me. He made too big a deal about the sex, so what. She did it because she knew his past and wanted to make sure that she was not just another lay. Yes, the sex was rather mechanical, not as beautiful as when he kissed her hand or touched her face or simply looked into each other's eyes. It was meant to be cold.. Here it is, let's move on to the relations at hand.

[–] numberonealcove 20 years ago

Like when you trip and begin to fall forward, you race ahead to try to regain your balance. Your legs cannot keep up with your body.

[–] Husker4theSpurs 20 years ago

I think the scene just shows that you can't go back and change something. Paul had idealized Noel in his mind ... he didn't want to have sex with her before b/c he didn't want to ruin things like he had in all his past "relationships".

If they had sex earlier in the film when they had the chance, it would've been portrayed as magical or something but now that Noel has done what she has done it has changed everything. I think the way they play the scene is meant to show that what Noel has done has changed everything b/t them. The sex is mechanical and both just seem out of it ... even Paul for the most part. It's just lacking the connection, yet she probably feels she owes it to him b/c she did it with another guy earlier. Like I said however, her past encounter has changed everything b/t them whether it was right or not or whether she was sorry or not.

We can empathize with her b/c she was in an all-girls school for so long and is very young, so we can't fully hate her for what she's done (although I gotta say I empathized with Paul WAY more being a guy). We definitely empathize with Paul b/c he was trying to do the right thing in the relationship and we know he may have truly cared about a girl for the first time in his life. Oh how I feel his pain in the schoolyard scene!

Man, I just love the purity and honesty of this film! It just pulls you in and mesmerizes a person ... puts you in its mood. Anyone who's done some reflection about love will recognize the heart in this movie imho. We need more films like this and less formulaic crap (although both have their places).

[–] srptch924 15 years ago

I completely agree with you product626, I felt the same way about the sex scene. Noel seemed bored! I felt like she did it just to make him feel better. She might have been sorry and thought having sex with him would fix it...but like people have said in other posts she had never been in love before and didn't know how to react. Ahh, love...

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] IngmarKubrick 14 years ago

She might be bored . . . but I don't think so. The fact that he's not looking at her (and my guess is he almost can't bring himself to do so) probably spoiled it for her. Plus, he's not trying to give her any enjoyable kind of experience. I think they were just going through with something that 'should' have been down earlier.

In the 'making of' featurette on the dvd, Green says something about how these are two people in different points of their life, going in different directions. Paul has been with many women, and is excited by a girl who he views as virginal and pure. Madonna-Wh*re complex? But she's a "real girl," and that image more or less has to be shattered.

I think I get the thing about not realizing she loves him until being with someone else. Perhaps it has something to do with needing a little bit of experience in order to differentiate feelings and know who you love and who you just have sexual feelings for.

Who knows? Sexual/romantic relationships are basically the hardest things to make sense of and sort out, because there is so much emotions and ancient programming and expectations from movies and advice from friends, that it's a big mess. I applaud this movie for making an ambiguous presentation of it.

[–] filmfancy 12 years ago

In the 'making of' featurette on the dvd, Green says something about how these are two people in different points of their life, going in different directions. Paul has been with many women, and is excited by a girl who he views as virginal and pure. Madonna-Wh*re complex? But she's a "real girl," and that image more or less has to be shattered.

What made me really dislike Paul was that he couldn't forgive Noel. She apologized and told him that she loved him, that she didn't want to lose his friendship, but he couldn't get past her having sex with that one guy. Double standards much?

He was the one who was pretty shallow. If he really cared for Noel he would have tried to work things out. He couldn't accept that she was a 'real' girl, who could make mistakes, who wasn't 'ideal.'

Perhaps this is what the director's intentions were--to depict how young men divide women into 'nice' girls or 'sluts.' In any case, the film's ending wasn't very satisfying.

I did like Zooey Deschanel in this film. She was refreshingly natural.

"And all the pieces matter"